you are my sunshine
by HecateA
Summary: a series of drabbles on the ridiculous, domestic, sunny life awaiting nico and will.
1. an introduction

**HAPPY INTERNATIONAL DAY AGAINST HOMOPHOBIA AND TRANSPHOBIA! Seriously though, what a good day to have. At my school the Gender and Sexuality Alliance club is painting nails in rainbow colours in exchange for rainbow candy. My flannel game is strong.**

 **I thought something similar while reading _The Hidden Oracle._ All the mentions of Nico and Will bickering and holding hands and partnering up for games and taking care of each other... Every single time Apollo flirted with a boy, mourned Hyacinth,or mentioned how his daughter Kayla had a mortal dad too... It wasn't just cute for me, it was so hopeful. It was heartwarming. It's getting better and better for kids coming out, and better and better for those of us who already are. Or at least I hope so, and I like to think so. The ammount of backlash on behalf of the homophobic parents outraged at the inclusion of diverse characters in _Blood of Olympus_ is still hurtful, but hardly a day goes by when something isn't. The simple fact that the queer or LGBT+ community can _have_ these things, these beautiful love stories and characters in mainstream media, are a good sign. **

**And so I thought that I'd give you a series of drabbles on Nico and Will as adults, raising a truckload of adopted demigods in a big, beautiful house. Enjoy.**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own the premise of the Rick Riordan mythological universe or the characters of Nico and Will.**

 **Dedication: to us.**

* * *

 **you are my sunshine**

 **introduction : grow old with me**

Nico held on to Emilia's chain of rings. She had left it home on purpose, saying that she wouldn't need to twirl the rings between her fingers half as much now that high school was over, but Nico wasn't sure. He was going to wrap them up in a properly addressed envelope, more than ready to ship them out at the first sign of trouble and anxiety on his daughter's behalf.

He looked at the other things Emilia had left in her bedroom. A big, ornate mirror hung by the closet, her curling iron rested on the desk, anything related to school had been abandoned. All the strands of lights had been unplugged and packed, and even Emilia's desk chair had gone. He peeked under her grown-up monochromatic comforter and saw that Emmie had also taken her ballerina sheets with her (she hadn't slept without them since she'd been four- she even brought them to camp every summer). There was a shelf above her bed on which the left slipper of every pair she'd danced with since she was a child was proudly displayed, along with a picture of Emilia at that age. Nico had a feeling that he would be spending a lot of time looking at those and reaching out for the silk. Gods, these children had ruined him and made him soft.

It was a bit of a miracle that Emilia had finished high school. Everything about it had come to her hard. There were times when it felt like every week a new learning disability was diagnosed. Nico remembered feeling like he'd been punched in the stomach during a parent-teacher meeting when M. O'Hanson had told him that Emilia had little to no chances of ever being able to read fluently, or of having a future. Of course, since that one asshat had been particularly cynical and critical of every child that Nico and Will had raised, Will had made a formal complaint about this. But with Emilia, Nico couldn't shake the feeling that maybe he was right this time. But no; Emilia had worked hard. She'd gotten an astounding 87% on her English exam this year. And now she was going off to school too.

It wasn't that Nico felt old, exactly. Demigods didn't tend to feel bad about growing old considering how unlikely it was. It just felt odd to have the house so… empty now. When you had six kids -oh yes, _six_ of them- an empty house was usually a sign of trouble. The contrast was especially striking since all of them had been home for Emilia's graduation. With an unexpected twist in the gut, Nico had no idea when they'd all be together again.

He crept out of Emilia's room and slipped her necklace in his back pocket. Across the hall was the twins' room. Bright, light green walls made the room look sleek. The twins' bunkbeds were shoved in a corner of the room, which were mostly cluttered by their desks. The only blueprints, plans, lists and highlighted research papers they had left behind were in Persian, to make sure that nobody else could read them. Nico would have respected their privacy even if everything would have been circled by blinking lights and neon arrows. He didn't dwell in the room for long, he just made a mental note to call them later and make sure that they were eating and sleeping as well as studying and creating. Children of Athena problems, he supposed.

Daniel's was right next door. The technicolour Beatles' bed spread jumped to Nico's eyes first. High school picture were hanging on clotheslines across the room. Old music equipment was neatly piled up in a corner- Daniel kept promising to bring it over to London soon, but never did. Nico was in no rush for him to do it, it's not like they were going to reassign his room.

He crept up to the attic, to Francesca and Cata's shared space. Their beds were nestled under the roofs' pitches, lightened up by windows and curtained off. Each girl had a desk and a dressing table. They'd both contributed to the colourful rugs on the floor and the mismatched beanbags, but it was more than clear where each girl lived. Francesca's side was plastered with travel posters, and completed with a hammock. Catalina's was basically empty now that the mountains of make-up and bins of costumes were gone, but two horror movie posters were left- though Nico and Will had started to paste movie tickets on her mirror, one for every film they saw where she'd taken care of the special effects. It made Cata smile every time she came by. Francesca's drawers were still stuffed with clothes since she lived out of a backpack at the moment, and for the foreseeable future. For lack of permanent address, souvenirs for trips also ended up on her old dresser- there was a Ukrainian music box, a Czech marionette, Chinese pearls, Thai silks… Nico made a point to keep the sheets on her bed fresh just in case she dropped by out of the blue (which she had, might, and eventually would again).

He rearranged Francesca's Matryoshka dolls, nesting them all into one another. And then he took them back out again and realigned them one next to the other. Then he sat on Cata's bed, twisting the fabric of her blanket in his fingers. His wedding ring, engagement ring and the skeleton ring caught in the yarn.

Catalina was their second oldest child, but their first adoption. It had just so happened that Nico and Will were enjoying a break from med school (or from helping their significant other cope with med school and residency and so forth) at Camp. That was when Catalina's father had stumbled across the camp lines with the year old baby curled up against his chest. The dragon chasing them had taken a ton of camp resources to handle. Will had been busy in the infirmary, counsellors were busy rallying their kids, and so the baby had been plopped into Nico's arms. She was a daughter of Hecate, already showing signs of magical activity, with no other family found outside of camp… If the baby had liked Nico, she'd loved Will. And they understood her. They knew her. And so Chiron had offered the baby to them once they'd realised she had nowhere to go. Nico had been on quests and he'd led armies, but it was the very first time that anybody had given him something to take care of. Cata was the first.

The stairs creaked. Will surfaced in the attic.

"Hey," he said. It was a miracle to see someone grow old. Seriously. To be able to track the wrinkles like trenches as they grew in bunches at the corners of someone's eyes and lips. To watch the silver and grey streak across someone's hair. It was a thing of wonder, after growing up being told not to be attached to your life, to wake up every morning knowing that not only you were alive, but the person you'd picked for your forever was there too.

"Hey," Nico answered. Will walked over and leaned down for a kiss, and sat down next to him. He was still wearing the sweater and clean jeans that he wore to and from work.

"Emmie called while you were at work," Nico said. "First day of classes went really well. She and another girl in her dorm knew each other from a summer dance camp, and they've been going out for coffee every morning to avoid getting lost on campus."

"Good," Will said. "That's good."

"How was work?" Nico asked.

"Busy," Will said. "Met a new patient today and everything. Did you catch up on paperwork?"

"I did," Nico said. "I found time to get the bills done too."

"Thank you," Will said. "I was going to do that tonight. I guess we can watch a movie or something now."

"Yeah," Nico said. He got caught in a starring contest with the _Silence of the Lambs_ movie poster and he bit his lip.

"Are you okay?" Will asked. Nico nodded.

"It was just quiet today," Nico said. "I mean, I worked with my office door closed, but I didn't need to. There was nobody coming home from school, nobody dropping by, nobody calling... I made so much extra pasta for supper because I forgot it was just the two of us."

"It is just the two of us," Will realised. He nodded. "Do you feel old?"

"I feel… strange," Nico said.

Will nodded, starring ahead. "There are virtually no shoes by the front door. Did we not have six kids here, like, five days ago?"

"We did," Nico said. His head fell against Will's shoulder.

"It's so strange," Will said.

"All of this is strange," Nico said gesturing vaguely.

"What's 'this'?" Will said mimicking the gesture.

"Everything. You, this house, these kids…" Nico said.

"Strange?" Will repeated. "How am I supposed to take that, babe?"

"I don't know," Nico said. "I just… never expected to be this happy. To have all these things and all these people in my life and you and kids and love and family…"

"So well," Will said. He kissed Nico's hair. "I'm going to take it well. Better than I'm taking all these kids going to college."

"Why are they all going to college," Nico repeated.

"I don't know," Will said- suddenly breathing deeply. He rubbed at his eye.

"Don't make me cry, you're so annoying," Nico said.

"But I'm your annoyance," Will said suddenly crying. Nico too burst into tears.


	2. the dreamhouse

**Hi! Thank you so much for the warm reviews on the story's first chapter, I hope you enjoy this one!**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own the premise of the Rick Riordan mythological universe or the characters of Nico and Will.**

* * *

 **ii : the dreamhouse**

Since Francesca was propped up on Will's hip and Nico was simply on diaper bag duty, he got to truly meander across the house and investigate it closely. It was a lot to take in. It felt a little too good to be true. Big windows that let in lots of light, white walls that bounced it all across the room, a porch that made Nico think of Camp Half-Blood's Big House, an open floor with no walls for things to hide…

"Do you have any questions about the property?" the overcompensating real estate agent said with a smile.

"No," Will said looking at Nico to gauge his reaction as he answered for them. "I think we just need a second to talk."

Nico nodded. The real estate agent beamed. Her name was Lauren, probably, which would explain how blond and perky she was.

"No problem, I'll give you a moment to mull things over," she said.

As she walked towards the front door and let herself out, she spooked Cata by coming close. Catalina bounced to her feet, green eyes wide. She came to sit on Nico's foot, holding onto his leg. He reached out to tug her braid, and she looked up at him smiling.

"So what do you think?" Will asked looking around at the wide open space that would eventually be split between a living room and a kitchen. There was room for the ridiculously huge and oversized couch that they'd picked out from a catalogue while drunk. If they bought the house, of course.

"It's beautiful," Nico said. It was such a nice place, it nearly made Nico forget about all the holes and cracks in the wall where he'd curled up to sleep as a kid. Franca's chin was propped against Will's shoulder and it made Nico happy that she wouldn't have had to do this. Someone who looked so small and innocent now wouldn't possibly ever be able to handle the godawful world out there.

"Kitchen over there, fully equipped… Because the gods know that we are _never_ rennovating a kitchen ever again. We could take that little room over there, by the staircase, and make it an office for you, so you wouldn't always have to pick up your books and hide your laptop from the kids. The attic is accessible, we could hide scary you-know-what things from the kids up there. There are plenty of extra rooms in case we get visit..."

Nico nodded. With Cata clinging to him and Franca sucking on her thumb in Will's arms… He could start imagining bits and pieces from Ikea catalogues and Pinterest and all their wildest dreams falling into place to make this house their home. Still, something was stirring in the pit of his stomach that made the light a little too bright, the smell of lemon polisher too stingy and everything… wrong.

"Do we know why the property is so cheap if it's this perfect?" Nico asked. Will bit his lip and nudged his head towards Cata. Nico covered her ears.

"There was a murder here," Will said quickly.

" _What?"_ Nico said, dropping his hands.

"What's wrong Papa?" Cata said.

"Nothing, let's keep playing the game," Will said. Nico covered her ears again.

"Someone was killed here?" Nico said. "Oh my gods, no wonder it feels so weird!"

"Yes," Will said.

"What happened?" Nico hissed, trying to keep it quiet.

"The kids are right here," Will said.

"Cata's playing a game and Franca's a child of the Underworld," Nico said dismissively. "Come on, you can't just _not_ tell me. It's not my fault I was on kid-duty while you asked."

"Can't you use your ghoul powers to figure it out?" Will whispered.

"I could, but that'll tick off Francesca's senses and I don't think you want to deal with a tantrum right now," Nico said.

"Okay, a lawyer poisoned his wife here," Will said.

"Are you serious?"

"Yes and they had three children, it's horrible," Will said. "I just didn't want to tell you because you weren't reacting too badly to the aura of death or whatever it is and…"

"And this place is really nice," Nico agreed. "And we could totally put a Christmas tree in that corner, all the electrical outlets are already childproof so we won't have to worry about Franca, and there's plenty of wall space to hang pictures…"

He looked around.

"Okay. I'm sold," Nico said at last. "Just promise not to poison me."

"I promise. Do you promise not to become a lawyer?"

"I swear it on the Styx," Nico said. Will opened his free arm and they hugged, squishing the two girls between them. Franca squealed and Catalina giggled.

"Daddy, Papa, are we going to live here?" Catalina piped up.

"We are," Nico said picking her up and swirling her in the air once before plopping her back on the floor. "If you go upstairs right now, you can even pick your room."

Cata ran off, so Nico and Will could kiss for real.

(And then they had to go tell Cata that she couldn't live in the bathroom because Daddy would wake her up too much when he had to shower in the middle of the night when he had to go into work at strange times- which wasn't the kind of logic a small child liked hearing, but was ultimately for the greater good.)


	3. paperwork

**Hello! This week was show week so I'm running a little behind on chapters and whatnot, but here you go! I'm a total emotional wreck!**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own the premise of the Rick Riordan mythological universe or the characters of Nico and Will.**

* * *

 **iii : Paperwork**

Will had patched together demigods in the middle of the battlefield. He was currently paid to cut open sick people, poke around inside their bodies, make a few snips and tucks, and hopefully sew them back together to send them on their merry way. But he had to admit that he felt sick to the stomach _right now._

The paperwork just kept coming and coming and he had to sign and then Nico signed but then sometimes he had to sign first and it was the absolute worst. Will was pretty sure he was going to drown in the legal blab, that had always been his least favourite part of medical school. Who _cares_ about charts and stuff when the important part was that a patient was safe and healthy? Similarly, who _cares_ how many papers are being signed when Catalina was, to be honest, basically already theirs? They'd been on Half-Blood Hill when her mortal father had stumbled across the barriers, wounded. They'd been the ones in charge of her ever since he had passed away. If Will had to imagine Catalina anywhere else in the world than with them, he would have to re-evaluate his entire life.

Alas, Will knew that a lot of people cared, and those people were mostly the government. So he scribbled his initials here and there across the pages that the lawyer presented to them, trying to sound like the A+ Caring Parental Candidate, invested and interesting in what all the lawyers and social workers were going on about while eyeing Catalina discreetly. They'd fed her applesauce before coming, but unless she'd gotten her daily dose of fishy crackers she got crabby and cranky and hungry again. Will made little faces at her to snap her into a better mood. He thought he was being nice and quiet until he noticed that the conversation had stopped and that everyone was looking at him.

"Sorry," Will said. "I promise I'm paying attention, I... I'm listening."

Nico held his dirty look until all the Official People watched Will settle back down and started chattering again.

"I have the crackers in my back pocket," Nico whispered to him. That's how Will knew that he couldn't be in _that_ much shit.

He still kept an eye on Cata to make sure she wasn't acting up. And also because Cata was hard to look away from. She was a beautiful kid, with curly black hair that Nico had taken to decorating with glittery pins and colourful bows, and these brilliant green eyes... Will bragged about it despite having no genetic responsability for it. He was excited to be able to brag about her being his daughter, at least.

"That should be all of it," the lawyer said happily. "Congratulations, gentlemen. Catalina is officially your daughter."

The social worker supervising smiled as she held the car seat. Nico was the first to move, kneeling in front of Catalina and gently unfastening the belts keeping her still.

 _Lord of Darkness, my ass,_ Will thought. _Lord of Marshmallows and Puppies, maybe._

"We already knew that," Nico said. "Didn't we Cata?"

He picked up the baby and held her to his chest, kissing the wispy black hair on her head. She was beautiful and he was handsome and for a second, Will thought that the best thing in the world would be to watch them forever. How had he spent his entire life not knowing that he was waiting for the very second that Cata would be his daughter and that Nico would pick her up and hold her before Will wrapped his arm around both of them? How had he survived his entire life without knowing how amazing this moment would feel?

He wrapped his arms around the pair of them and burried his face in Nico's hair. Thank God the paperwork was over. Now they could just be together.


	4. plans

**Hello! Here's a quick late chapter between exams, camp and more exams- enjoy!**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own the premise of the Rick Riordan mythological universe or the characters of Nico and Will.**

* * *

 **iv : plans**

« Franca, » Will called from the living room. He was lounging on the couch with a huge medical dictionary, researching experimental pediatric neurosurgery something something science word- it was all very complicated and unclear to Nico (who was instead reading a comic book recommended by Cata, meaning he won).

Francesca swung into her room- her long and thick princess hair _literally_ swinging. If people tended to think that blond-blue-eyed Daniel was Will's biological son, they associated Francesca, with her thick hair and darker skin and chocolatey eyes, to Nico immediately. Of course, Nico wasn't Filipino and he didn't have a smile half as bright as hers, but what did white people know?

"Yeah Dad?" She asked.

"When is your application due for NYU?" Will asked. "Did you need any help with that? You said you'd keep us posted and then got kind of quiet."

Francesca bit her lip and Nico instantly saw the life drain from her. She played with her flowery skirt nervously.

"Umm, actually… I wanted to run something by you guys."

"Okay," Will said putting the book aside and swinging his legs off the couch to stand up straight. "What's up?"

"I… I don't really want to go to NYU anymore," Franca said. "Actually, I don't want to university at all."

First of all, _what?_ Francesca Solace had never brought a grade under 95% home. It was actually unreal. She didn't even dedicate the entierity of her life to schoolwork, she was a natural. Her favourite game had been animal-hospital since she was about eight, and she'd wanted to be a neurologist since she was 12. Oh well. Plans changed, Nico supposed.

Nico looked at Will. He himself was completely uneducated as far as the United States' Government knew, but Will had worked _hard_ to get into med school. He had killed himself over time and time again in med school to get to where he was now.

"Is there a reason?" Will asked gently.

"I was in class," Francesca said, "I mean- bio. I was helping this guy Josh who's absolutely miserable and lost and panicky understand something from our genetics unit, and then my teacher said that this unit was now worth 40% of the class. Isn't that crazy? Out of _nowhere_ one unit is worth a ton. And so I started stressing and panicking and I switched up my studying schedule and… and then I realised that it wasn't just Josh. My entire class was miserable and lost. And then I realised that I wasn't happy either- and it hit me really hard, just that one time. And I realised that I'm unhappy because of school right now. But I'm going to be in school for ten more years if I want to be a neurologist. Which means I might be unhappy for another ten years. That's a lot of time. That's more time than most demigods _get,_ Dads."

"It is," Nico said. "Did you ever consider that university would be different?"

"Maybe," Franca said. "Maybe I'll be happy then. But then I thought; why would I do that, when I know I could be doing something that will _definietely_ make me happy?"

"Not a bad logic," Will said. "What were you thinking?"

"Traveling," Franca said. They both frowned.

"Sweetie, you haven't traveled all that much…" Will said. When they could muster the time, they usually took their kids as far as Camp Half-Blood only.

"Well," Franca said. "See, this won't make Papà happy."

"Why not?" Nico asked, immediately on guard.

"I know you said no- I mean, your words were 'absolutely not as long as I live'... but the other kids in Cabin 13 showed me how to shadow-travel last summer," Franca said.

"Francesca Angelica-"

"I know, I know," Franca said. "I'm not very good at it, I barely managed it. I mean, children of Persephone can't do it as well, I even asked Chiron. But Daveed, the counsellor, he took people to the Czech Republic. And it was so much fun, Dads. We went to over twenty different countries last summer, it was crazy. And I was so happy no matter where I was- Estonia, Slovakia, Croatia, France, even _Italy,_ Papà! Daveed brought me to the Philippines, just me. I want to do it again. Not the shadow-traveling part, but to buy a plane ticket and pack a bag and improvise… Maybe I can do volunteerwork or teach English or be a bartender too..."

Pissed off as he was at Daveed (Nico never should have showed the brat how to shadow-travel in the first place), he had to admit that Franca's face _was_ lighting up as she told her stories. And if Nico was a sucker for anything, it was his kids being happy.

"I think traveling is cool," Nico said. "I did it. It helps you see more things, meet new people, understand more of the world…"

He turned to look at Will for his input. Will was quiet.

"I'm sorry Dad," Franca said. Her eyes were immediately watery, and Nico wondered how long she'd been waiting to drop the drop-out bomb on them. "I know you were super excited that a kid was going to med school, I really liked all the jokes we made and stuff but I… I have to be more happy than not, and spend more time being happy than not. That's how I'm going to make my life great, I think that's the secret."

"Sorry," Will said. "I was just thinking; I have a friend from college who's living in Kenya now, running a clinic. And a brother who runs an Irish hostel that might need some help, if you want to stop by there…"

Francesca beamed and let out a little choking sound and rushed to Will, wrapping her arms around his neck.


	5. defiance

**Hello! Here's a quick late chapter between exams, camp and more exams- enjoy!**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own the premise of the Rick Riordan mythological universe or the characters of Nico and Will.**

* * *

 **v: defiance**

Sometimes Nico wished that he was the parent with the ridiculously prestigious job (crazy hours and daily, hellish commute included). That way he wouldn't be driving to the school and dealing with every single minor emergency.

He sat in front of the nice secretary's office (her name was Giselle and Nico had spoken to her more often this week than he'd spoken to his husband, which was ridiculous but _anyways)._ He waited for the principal to be ready for him and prepared himself for Mrs. Rottsburg. He mentally prepared himself for what Rottsburg would say; _of course we have considered that Teresa is a very troubled child, but even then her actions are inexcusable…_ Or, even better: _I'm obviously not critiquing your lifestyle choices, but perhaps Teresa needs a mother's gentle touch…_ Oh yes, that was Nico's absolute favourite. Teresa's mother the goddess Athena had about the maternal instinct of a hawk, but sure- Teresa could benefit from it. For obvious reasons, he also had to mentally prepare himself to be patient and kind, as well as get some statements of his own ready. _We've been working on sharing and using the right tone of voice at home, but the classroom is a completely different environment in which Teresa needs to practise too…_ He should just make cue cards and pick one every time he got called to the school for something Teresa did. (At least, he was 99% sure that he was here because of Teresa- but technically it could be a toss-up between four kids, so whatever- he'd find out soon).

When the office door swung open, sure enough, it was Teresa sitting in the chair. Her hands were folded neatly over her purple dress, and her hair was still done up perfectly in its two long pigtails. Her feet could barely touch the ground, but she was swinging her legs and clicking her heels together- looking totally at ease in the principal's office. Jesus, she was way too young to be this desensitised to discipline. This did not bode well.

"Hello Mrs. Rottsburg," Nico said shaking her hand, forcing himself to smile because it was true, his kid could be pretty shitty with the teachers and the principal and just about any other authority figure. Compensation, right?

"Hello, M. di Angelo," Mrs. Rottsburg said. "Please, make yourself at home."

"It nearly is like home," Teresa piped up. Nico gave her a look and smiled at the principal. It hurt. It really, really hurt but damn his kid could be sassy.

"What seems to be the problem today?" Nico asked.

"Teresa was being defiant in class," Mrs. Rottsburg said shutting her door and sitting down in front of Nico.

Nico looked at Teresa. Teresa nodded.

"Only because my teacher was wrong," Teresa said.

"Young lady, your teacher was teaching a class," Mrs. Rottsburg said.

"That doesn't mean she can't be wrong," Nico said trying to sound diplomatic. "Tessa, what did your teacher say that was wrong?"

"She said the capital of Iran was Baghdad," Teresa said.

"That's not true," Nico said, smile falling. "The capital of Iran is Tehran."

"That's what I said and then she said I was wrong and then I said I knew because Iran is my country and then she told me that no because America is my country but that's not true," Teresa said. She spoke at lightning speed and got really gushy when she was upset. There were actually tears in her eyes now. "I was being nice like you said Papa. I'm not being defiant. I'm just right. I'm allowed to be right."

"I know," Nico said. "I know, baby, I know."

She sat on his knees, shaking angrily.

"Here," Nico said. "Why don't you walk to the bathroom and go get some toilet paper to wipe your nose?"

He was hoping that Teresa was too angry to spot the box of Kleenex on the principal's desk. She saw it, but understood that this was her cue to get out.

"Seriously?" Nico asked as soon as the door closed behind her. "I get called away from my work all the way to school because your teacher decided to pick on my daughter?"

"Sir, I don't think my teacher was 'picking' on your daughter," Mrs. Rottsburg said.

"Okay, well, I'm glad you don't. But the fact is that aside for getting angry with my child instead of literally just Googling something, she showed complete and total disregard for my child's heritage," Nico said. "You caught her at a bad time; three days ago we found out that Teresa's biological father was Iranian, _and_ she's been in a world-geography phase for the last week."

"Your child's heritage-"

"Don't fight me on this, please," Nico said. "I'm Italian. I was raised in Italy, I fly with an Italian passport, I speak Italian, and I cook so Italian I haven't use store-bought pasta once in my life. Nobody can tell me that I'm 100% American, because it's not true and I won't have it. I'm fine with coming to school, sitting in your office and going home to talk to my daughter about being polite with adults and enforce positive behaviour and healthy habits. But I will not diminish her sense of identity- nor will I punish her for being smarter than the adults in her surroundings, and unashamed about how brilliant she is. As a matter of fact, we're going to go out for ice cream unless there's something else we need to address."

Mrs. Rottsburg looked at Nico with a look of pure horror. Gone was the gentle and apologetic parent she dealt with so much (so, _so_ much). Nico didn't care. With his kids there was no fight or flight response; there was just fight.


	6. do re mi

**Hola! So: I am going on a one-month trip to Laos and Cambodia (I swear Laos is a real country despite nobody ever having heard of it, look it up...) I'll be doing mostly humanitarian work and also a bit of tourism because I couldn't live with myself if I went to Southeast Asia without stopping by Angkor Wat. Anyways, this means I'm going to be a very busy bee with no computer, no wifi and mostly no service either. So I'm putting a ton of chapters up all over the place to last through the month (though I guess I've dissapeared for more than a month during the school year so really, what difference does it make?) Anyways, enjoy!**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own the premise of the Rick Riordan mythological universe or the characters of Nico and Will.**

* * *

 **vi: do re mi**

Nico and Will sat in the school gym and tried really hard to blend in- but this was a new school and they didn't know any of the parents at St. Anne's. Their daughters went to school on the complete other side of town- _but_ they hadn't wanted to pull Daniel out just because he'd moved in with them. He was happy here and his life had already been messed up enough as it was. So there they were. At least the old foster parents weren't there- that would have been awkward.

"I think I just agreed to bring macaroni salad to the school picnic," Will muttered to Nico.

"No, you agreed to bring macaroni salad to the class potluck next Monday," Nico said. "We already told the teacher that Daniel's bringing _pizzelle_."

"Okay good, that's a lot better," Will said. "I'm so confused Nico, I don't know any of the other parents."

"Yeah, and usually you're a rockstar at the girls' school," Nico said. Will elbowed him.

"Everyone knows Daniel, though," Nico said. "And they love him."

"He's sort of an angel," Will said. He was smiling.

The principal took the stage and asked everybody to kindly take their seats, so they did. The Christmas show wasn't all that lavish. Classrooms had prepared little dances and reindeer, penguin or elf costumes to go with it. coalition of sixth-graders and kindergarteners read the poem 'T'was the Night Before Christmas'- each sixth-grader clearly assigned to steer one of the little ones in the right direction. The school choir sang. In between the class presentations, there were individual performers- usually a fifth grader who took piano lessons on the side, or a trio of girls who were all in the same dance class. Will was stunned when the first grade teacher organising the whole affair introduced the next performer as Daniel Brown, Grade 3, who would be playing and singing _The Little Drummer Boy._

"Daniel plays guitar?" Will whispered to Nico.

"Well, there's Daniel and there's a guitar," Nico said as the applause stopped. Daniel hobbled onstage, his prosthetic leg hidden by his long pants, and sat down on a bench. A teacher helped him adjust the mic. And then he tuned his guitar patiently, and looked up at the crowd. He strummed. And then he played, and Nico had to pick his jaw off the ground. He was _good._ He was slow and even and confident and so, so happy to be playing. And then there was the singing, which baffled Nico beyond words. Daniel was _good._

Will being a soccer dad jumped to his feet to clap, but he wasn't alone at all. They looked at each other, but kept quiet since a class of fifth graders rushed onstage to set up the cardboard set for their Nativity scene.

When it was all said and done, Daniel came to them pretty quickly.

« Congratulations Daniel, » Will said. Daniel beamed and took the high-five with glee. « You were so good! »

"You did great," Nico agreed.

"Really?" Daniel asked.

"Absolutely."

"You bet," Will said. "We could hardly believe it was you."

"Yeah," Nico said kneeling in front of Daniel. "We've never even heard you play guitar, Danny. Do you like it?"

"A lot," Daniel nodded. Nico was an absolute sucker for Daniel; there was something about his golden hair and twinkly eyes and sly smile that made him think of Will a lot. People thought that Daniel _was_ his biological son all the time. At first it had been so disquieting that they'd had to ask Apollo if Daniel was his.

"How come you never told us you could play guitar?" Will asked.

"The last parents I told got mad because they thought I was trying to make them buy a guitar, and those are expensive," Daniel said.

Will and Nico exchanged glances.

"Well, you didn't have to be afraid of us," Will said.

"Right," Nico said. "We loved to hear you play, and we loved seeing you so happy. We'll find one for you. You won't have to share it with the other kids at school, and you can practise at home whenever you want and show us your songs. How's that sound?"

Daniel grinned a toothy smile at them and jump-hugged Nico. Nico smiled and got up, swinging the little boy's legs around.

"I think that sounds like a plan," Will said- beaming just as hard as Danny and reaching to run a hand through his hair. "Okay, big guy. Let's go say goodbye to your teacher and maybe we can go out for, I don't know, ice cream to celebrate?"

Daniel's mouth dropped open. "Ice cream? At this hour?"

Nico laughed. Those had been Will's exact words when he'd caught Daniel trying to sneak a bowl of ice cream at 9:30 once.

"It's a special occasion," Will said. "Do you know where your teacher is?"

"That way," Daniel said pointing in the crowd. It was unspecific, but Nico didn't want to point it out. The kid was getting ice cream and a guitar in the near future; he was having a good night.


	7. doctor's office

**vii: doctor's office**

Will was immediately on edge. The nurse had brought Emilia to go get a lollipop, but Nico and Will and Dr. Patters were still sitting in the office. He was a doctor too; he knew the drill about giving bad news to the parents before so the child didn't have to see their reaction.

"We've concluded that Emilia has alcohol-related neurodevelopmental disorder," Dr Patters said. "She's adopted of course, so we'll never know for sure…"

Nico and Will looked at each other.

"But when a woman consumes alcohol during her pregnancy, it disrupts a baby's growth and development."

"So we're looking at fetal alcohol syndrome," Will said.

"Yes," Dr Patters said. "I have some literature here for you."

"Thank you," Nico said making a reach for the pamphlets. Will didn't, and that's when Nico realised that he knew about this. So Nico nodded as the doctor told them that this wasn't a death sentence for Emilia, that there had never been a time with more resources and awareness, that it wasn't clear yet how severe her case was, but they would have to revisit her blood tests and neonatal medical history… The doctor stepped out to go grab them something else and Nico turned around to Will.

"Okay, no bullshit here, what are we looking at?"

"It could be grim, it could not be. We are looking at vision problems, hearing problems, learning disabilities, mental retardation, sensory processing disorder, attachment problems, the epilepsy continuing…" Will said. "There could be other physical damage, cardiovascular and such. Since she wasn't in and out of hospitals nonstop as a baby they think that we're safe for that, but she's fallen through so many cracks in the foster system…"

"This just means we have to go through with the adoption even more," Nico said. "I will sleep in the recliner with her on my lap for the next fifty years if I have to."

"Unless I'm not working nights," Will interjected.

Nico nodded and leaned back in his chair. He lazily flipped through some pamphlets and the pieces of the puzzle slowly fell into place.

"We need to really make a push with Hades and Apollo," Nico said. "We need to figure out who her immortal parent is. This isn't like Cata, where it'll suck but she can wait until she's twelve to be claimed, we need to know now."

"I'm texting Dad right now," Will said putting his phone in his pocket. "Do you think Dionysus?"

"I don't know," Nico said. "She's two. We don't have a lot to go on. Although I guess we can assume that her mother is the mortal by now."

Will nodded. He took Nico's hand.

"She had this yesterday," Nico said. "She had this the day before, and the day before that, and the day before that. But she was always our Emilia."

"Our Emilia who makes that squeaking noise," Will smiled. "And who eats her Cheerios like a lizard."

"I think you mean 'eat like a laser'," Nico grinned, mimicking Emilia's quiet and churned speech. "You're thinking about medical terminology and terrifying case histories and babies in your hospital wing. Don't."

"This is our daughter, not a… not a baby who didn't make it through the night," Will said.

"Right," Nico said. "And who knows how much she'll grow and how she'll end up, you know?"

"I know," Will said, taking a deep breath.

Dr Patters came back in, holding a pile of paperwork in one hand, holding Emilia's hand in the other. Emilia wobbled forwards with a hand in her mouth. Nico was proud to see that she hadn't pulled her hair out of the braids he'd made that morning yet, and there was that other feeling that was kind of pride but mostly just gush that came with just seeing his kid for the first time after being apart for a bit.

"Hey Emmie," Will said. "I heard you got some toys to play with."

"Firetruck," Emilia nodded.

"A firetruck?" Nico asked. "Oh my gods. Was it red and everything?"

"Wee-ooh, wee-ooh!" Emilia said.

"Whoa," Will said. "Did the firetruck make noise too?"

"Wee-ooh, wee-ooh!"

"Ooooh," Nico said scooping her up. "You made it yourself? That's some good stuff, Emilia."

Emilia smiled and Nico smiled back and then Will smiled and the Doctor smiled.

Yeah. They had some good things going on, here. Good enough to give Emilia heaven if she wanted it, and to stir up hell if she needed it.


	8. two

**Disclaimer: I own nothing!**

 **PS- the drag queen olympics are real, look it up. drag queens make the world go round, bless them all.**

* * *

 **viii: two**

"Hey Te- Teresa, what's wrong?" Nico asked, tensing up like a guitar string as soon as he realised his daughter was crying.

"Papa," Teresa said. "Papa, you won't believe it..."

"Okay, okay- deep breaths kiddo," Nico said. "Try me. What's going on?"

Teresa calmed down on the other end. It took a long time, and even if it hadn't, it would have freaked Nico out a bit. Teresa Solace was not one for jitters. She had nerves of steel, a stomach that could digest nails, a legendarily small amount of patience, and this uncanny ability to win any kind of fight involving words, but she was a mess now.

"Papa, I have a sister," Teresa said. "And not- not just other children of Athena. But I have a sister that's my sister, Papa."

Nico had trouble following. "Okay. You mean, a biological sister? Both parents?"

"I think so," Teresa said. "We both do. We're both around twelve- she doesn't know her birthday because she was raised in a foster family, and we look alike, Dad. It's crazy. She's Persian too. We both have a bent little finger, when we clasp our hands we put the right thumb over the left, we love sour foods- those are all genetic traits, Papa!"

"Okay, okay, calm down," Nico said. "Deep breaths, Tessa. Deep breaths. What's this girl's name?"

"She goes by Roshanak," Teresa said. "Papa, I swear she's my sister. Papa, I _feel_ it."

"I believe you Tessa, I believe you," Nico said. He did, he just wasn't sure what that meant exactly. "Have you tried praying to your mother? Asking for council?"

"I did," Teresa said. "Radio silence, for the both of us."

"Tessa, it's August," Nico said. "You didn't call us earlier?"

"We… we wanted to be sure," Teresa said. "But now it's August and we don't have anymore proof, we just feel it in our guts- and now we're running out of time before we have to- we have to- be separated…"

"Teresa, calm down," Nico said. "We're going to think of something."

"Chiron just said to tell you that he sent a picture of us together to your email," Teresa said. "Can you look at it?"

"Of course, baby girl," Nico said punching buttons and clicking his away across his computer screen. He found the email, downloaded the image and… _shit._ The picture was taken of two girls dressed in black and standing in front of the central hearth. Not only were they the same size, but they both had the same thick hair, the same narrow eye shape, the exact same nose, their eyeliner and pink lipgloss matched… And most importantly, they both had the look to them that meant that they could fuck you up. This was a scary look on tween girls, but Nico believed it. Roshanak looked exactly like his daughter. With a quick glance he'd assume it was her- if not for the fact that she wasn't wearing earrings like Tess always did. And more than that, there was something insanely complicit in the way they stood together, with Tessa's head cocked to the side and Roshanak leaning into her…

"You do look like sisters," Nico said.

"Chiron wouldn't let me call if this wasn't legitimate," Teresa said. "Papa, please. I'm freaking out. I don't want to lose her."

"Okay, okay," Nico said. "Calm down. Your dad should be home in an hour or two, and he has a couple of days off. We'll try to fly over or I'll shadow-travel us or something and we can meet you both and Chiron, okay?"

"Okay," Teresa said. "Dad took time off? Did you two have plans?"

"No," Nico lied. "Nothing more important than this, anyways." _Amsterdam's not going anywhere, is it? Will can go see the Drag Queen Olympics another year._

Teresa took a deep breath. "Thank you, Papa. I've been a wreck."

"Don't worry about it," Nico said. "We'll be there as soon as possible."

"I just… I don't understand it. You and Dad always said that my mother delivered me straight to your house."

"Right," Nico said. He could remember the heart attack Lady Athena had given him, showing up in the dead of night with a nine-month-old child in her arms- telling him she needed to be taken from her father, a scientist gone mad, without losing a proper home.

"So why would she have separated us?" Teresa said. "Why did she do that? How did she decide which one of us should grow with you and which one should be raised in the system?"

"I can't explain the gods, baby," Nico said. "Maybe it was to protect you."

"I'm stronger with her," Teresa said. She spoke calmly now; these were rational declarations. "It's true, Papa. We see the flaws in each others' plans. We're having less nightmares this summer. We correct each others' maths. We beat Chiron at chess when we played together."

"Wow," Nico agreed. That right there was child of Athena goals. "I'm excited to meet her."

"I told her you guys were great," Teresa said. "She already likes Cata a lot, and she's as in love with Franca as the entire world is. Daniel she thinks is too much of a flirt, but that's okay- we all think that."

Nico laughed.

"I really want her to come back to Boston in the fall," Teresa said. "I know it's more complicated than that, especially since the New York Child Services are still looking for her, but it wouldn't feel right. It's like… it would be like taking Dad away from you. You can't do it alone when you find someone perfect for you. She's my sister, how can someone be more perfect?"

Nico leaned back in his seat and blatantly lied to his daughter. "The front door just opened. I'll go talk to Dad, we'll be on our way, okay?"

"Okay," Tessa said. "Love you."

"Love you too," Nico said. He hung up the phone and took a deep breath. He pulled his top drawer open and pulled out a picture of Bianca and him, black and white, taken in Washington D.C.,1940. He didn't have a ton of more recent pictures of Bianca. This was an accidental find, as he roamed Hades' palace (and yes, okay, technically a theft). But he loved this picture more than he could love a high-definition, coloured one. They looked happy and they looked like kids and they were goofing off for whichever parent was taking the picture in the frame. They looked like a family. Like two people who should have grown up and grown old together so much, they had been tied together by blood.

He looked at the picture for a long, long time until the front door actually did open, and Will called out his usual, 'Hey babe I'm home'.

"Will," Nico said getting up. "Will, Amsterdam's on hold. We have to go Camp."


	9. lucia

**ix: lucia**

Will was sitting in Nico's office with pencils in his mouth making walrus sounds.

"Listen," Nico said. "Just because you work 48 hour shifts doesn't mean that when you get home _I_ have to drop everything and pay attention to you."

Will made whale sounds, nodding his head.

"What even is that, Will?" Nico asked.

"Narwhal," Will said, though it came out jumbled because of the stupid pencils in his stupid mouth.

"A narwhal has only one horn," Nico said.

"Nuh-uh."

"Yes they do."

"Nuh-uh."

"Yes they do Will, don't fight me on this."

Will let one pencil fall from his mouth and resumed the whale sounds.

"Jesus Will, what can I do to get you out of the way- sex?"

Will laughed and the other pencil fell too. Nico threw an eraser at him, and Will tossed a pencil.

"Hey- that was actually dangerous!"

"I thought you, the Dark Lord, laughed in the face of danger?"

"Heal me this," Nico said throwing a pair of scissors at him.

"Before this escalates more, let's try to patch this up," Will said throwing a roll of tape back.

"You are so annoying."

"But we're so attached," Will said throwing a paper clip.

"Minus five for poor punmanship."

Will kept peltering him with paper clips and Nico ignored him so diligently that he nearly didn't notice the pair of eyes that materialised in the doorframe.

"Hey," Nico said. "Come in Rosh, what's wrong?"

Roshanak pushed the door open a bit more and came in. She stepped carefully and she was wearing pyjamas covered in polka-dots and a ratty t-shirt with the Coca Cola logo on it.

"Can't sleep?" Will asked her.

"No, it's not that," Roshanak said. "I was just waiting to talk to you two alone."

"Okay," Will said. Roshanak stood before them, hands folded in front of her. Her nails were painted midnight blue- the latest colour Nico had bought her. Where Teresa was obsessed with earrings and needed to be able to tug on them to think things through, Roshanak needed her nails painted to feel whole.

"It's about the adoption hearing," Roshanak said. Nico's heart fell right through his also-freefalling stomach. No way. Was she having second thoughts?

"It's not that I want to cancel it," Roshanak said. "At all. It's just that I want to modify it."

"Could you elaborate?" Will asked.

"Well," Roshanak said. "It doesn't take a genius to figure it out, but all the kids have an Italian first name and your last name. You know, to make them both of yours…"

"Right," Nico said. "But Daniel had a name before he came to us and he kept it, Rosh, it's not a problem…"

"No, that's the thing," Roshanak said. "Roshanak's not even my real name, I just picked it for Camp. I want you two to name me like the others."

Nico was a bit too stunned to reply and judging by Will's silence, so was he.

"I know that you guys are busy and have a thousand things to do and that the hearing's only in two days, and this is really petty after all…" Roshanak said. Her voice caught in her throat and tears sprung up in her eyes. "But my first dad didn't even tough out the first year of my life and now I get two good ones and I really, really can't believe it. And I wish I'd been here for even longer, and it doesn't make up for it but if you could name me like I was really yours, that would… that would mean a lot."

Will held out a hand and pulled Rosh into his arms instantly. She sat down on his knee and curled up against him as if she was a little girl, or as if she'd picked up the habit when she was. It was a far cry from when she'd come back from Camp with Teresa. She hadn't trusted Nico and Will farther than she could throw them (in typical child-of-Athena fashion). She'd been skeptical of everything and so overly polite that Nico thought he'd dialed a 1-800 number every time they had a conversation. She accepted the minimal ammount of food and clothes and literally anything from them, as if she were counting her debts. She hadn't fully unpacked her camp bags for weeks, and when Nico had told her that he knew she was doing that in case she wanted to leave... well, he'd apparently poked a sore spot, since that escalated into one of the worst fights he'd ever had with a kid. Still, Nico hadn't been angry at her when she'd told him that she was here for Teresa and Teresa alone, that Nico and Will could never be her real parents, that they shouldn't even pretend to just care, that they were wrong about being able to make families out of nothing and bits and pieces, that she didn't want to pretend that they could, or that she needed them... How _could_ he be angry? He'd bitten and flared whenever people had tried to reach out to him as a kid. It couldn't be Rosh's fault that she'd been made to feel terminally unwanted. It was a happy kind of miracle to see her now, curled up with Will.

"Rosh, you don't need to cry," Will said. "It would be our pleasure to name you."

"It'd be an honour," Nico said. "And we don't need to do anything to make you our daughter, because you already are, Rosh."

"You are ours as much as Teresa and Catalina and Francesca and Daniel and Emilia are," Will said. "I promise. All that that paper's going to do is change our taxes."

Roshanak laughed and wiped at her eyes. Nico took her hand.

"It doesn't matter that we only met when you were a bit older," Nico said. "It doesn't change a thing."

Roshanak nodded again.

"But you are going to be harder to name, because we know you more than we knew the babies," Will said. "Alright, let's brainstorm, Nico…"

"Well, we nearly named Teresa 'Sofia', so that's out," Nico said.

"Raffaela was always one of my favourites," Will said.

"But then my initials won't change," Roshanak said.

"True," Nico said. "Edita?"

"Super pretty," Will said.

"Actually, no. Too… polite," Nico said. Will laughed, but it was true.

"Beatrix has some spunk to it," Will said.

"Liliana?"

"Clara?"

"Alessandra?"

"Juliette?"

"I got it," Nico said. "Lucia."

"Lucia," Will said. "Lucia Solace. Lucia and Teresa. Lucia, Emilia, Daniel, Teresa, Francesca and Catalina… Lucia Roshanak Solace?"

"I think that works," Nico said.

"I like Lucia too," Will said. "Roshanak, what do you think of that?"

"I don't think I want you to call me Roshanak anymore," she said with a smile splitting her face.


	10. lullaby

**Yo. I had heck of a good time in Asia and also tons of fun in Winnipeg! If you want to hear the complete story of where the heck I've been at, go read the Author's Note on the Parenthood Drabbles, it's a boring story not worth repeating. Now I'm back for good, and I've got a hundred new drabble and story ideas, so let's start with this.**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own the premise of the Rick Riordan mythological universe or the characters of Nico and Will. Also I apologise to anybody who speaks or reads Italian; the 'o' in 'do' is missing an accent that I don't have on my French keyboard.**

* * *

 **x: lullaby**

Out of all the hurtful, unnecessary and pathetic things that people had told Nico over the years, questioning how he would handle a baby was definitely the worst.

He was the son of Hades. Not some kind of hellish brute himself. He'd managed to shed that expectation everyone had of him over the years- on the level of him being a psychopath or a coldblooded killer. Seeing the expectations people had of him creep back was the worst.

Will was working the night shift in the emergency room that night, medical internship hours being so _great,_ and had to leave home by 5:00. Nico high-tailed it out of the antique shop (job #3 after the bar and the book-writing) to make it home in time and tag off, and there he was with baby Catalina.

It was the first time Nico had been alone with her for the long twelve-hours that Will's shift promised. Will himself hadn't even been alone with her that long. They'd always managed to tag-team with the baby, or stop by various workplaces to say hello, or swing by friends and families, or Hazel would shadow-travel to visit her niece, or _something._

Cata was being very indulgent as Nico made himself supper (which was also lunch since he'd forgone his break to make it home on time, and also breakfast since he'd been late that morning- he would need better eating habits if he wanted to teach this kid anything at all). She cooed and aahed and giggled as he bounced her around the kitchen and made nonsense sounds and danced to the radio's music. Will had drilled him hard about how a baby needed to hear noise and words to start talking, so Nico couldn't just _brood_ around the baby. Even without the speech he'd have been fine; hearing Cata's laugh would be motivation enough. Nico understood the thrill a comedian might get throwing jokes around in exchange for laughter, or what an actor got out of nailing his delivery to make millions of movie-goers cry.

He ate his eggs in her bedroom, watching her kick and punch up a storm as she lay under her baby gym- a dangly contraption they'd inherited from Percy and Annabeth where children were encouraged to punch happy butterflies and stuffed bees minding their own business (not that Nico was allowed to point out the savagery of all this). Her nursery was a bit of a mess- in one corner they'd piled up cans of yellow paint and bumblebee wall decals and a flowery mobile that they'd picked up with the full intention of putting up- but then Will had gotten all _logical_ and _organised,_ and pointed out that they would probably want to move out of the apartment now since the baby was living in the apartment's one spare bedroom and that they'd discovered _shit this one's great, we do want kids._ So the stuff was waiting to be put up and splotched onto a second home, and Cata's nursery was instead decorated with tons of toys and baby stuff and a collage of congratulatory cards that had been sent by literally everyone Nico and Will knew.

He gave Cata a bath before bedtime and tickled her tummy while he put her pyjamas on and blew raspberries on her cheeks because baby loved that shit. He gave her another bottle before bed and she was fast asleep pretty quickly. Awesome.

Nico was working on the latest movie script he'd been commissioned for and it was way past midnight when Cata started screaming bloody murder.

And that was the part where being alone with a baby was _not fun._ Nico ran through the drills as if he were in battle. Did she need to be changed? Yes, do that. Gross. And also ineffective, which just felt like an insult. Okay, was she hungry? Nope, the bottle would not do. Okay. Did she just want to be held? Apparently not. Burped? Yes, but that was apparently the tip of the iceberg. Nico started getting nervous that the neighbours would start thinking he was sacrificing the baby to Satan or something -they all loved Will, struggled to comprehend Nico's very existence and looked at him as if he brought on a bitter taste in their mouths.

He blew raspberries on her cheeks and tickled her- usually that worked. He changed her pyjamas -twice- in case she was hot or cold. For a while he just swung her from left to right and shushed her and held her stomach-down, supposedly miracle-positions that all the pediatricians raved about. Cata spat out her pacifier so hard, it could've dented the floor. When he swaddled her, she roared. Nico didn't know how she'd burned her last ounce of energy, he was starting to tire.

He sat down in the rocking chair -Sally Jackson had told them that a rocking chair or a comfortable chair could be the difference between heaven and hell, and who were they to fight Sally Jackson about parenthood? He hadn't used it much in the last two months Catalina had been theirs, but he was tired.

He rocked forwards and backwards, forwards and backwards… Something about the motion brought back a memory. Yes! A lullaby. He'd never thought about it, but he supposed it must have been Maria's song, though he only remembered Bianca singing it.

 _« Stella, stellina_

 _La notte si avvicina :_

 _La fiamma traballa,_

 _La mucca é nella stalla._

 _La pecora e l'agnello,_

 _La vacca col vitello,_

 _La chiccia coi pulcini,_

 _La gatta coi gattini;_

 _E tutti fan la nanna_

 _Nel cuore della mamma… »_

It was about baby animals going to sleep with all their mothers- cute shit and all, but most importantly _boom,_ the baby wasn't howling anymore. Nico scrambled for another.

 _"_ _Ninna nanna, ninna oh_

 _Questo bimbo a chico lo do?_

 _Ninna nanna, ninna oh_

 _Questo bimbo a chi lo do?_

 _Se lo do alla befana_

 _Se lo tiene una settimana_

 _Se lo do all'uomo nero_

 _Se lo tiene un anno tero_

 _Se lo do al lupo bianco_

 _Se lo tiene tanto tanto_

 _Ninna nanna, nanna fate_

 _Il mio bimbo addormentate…"_

Cata was now just looking up at him with her big dark eyes. Nico saw flashes of green ringing her pupil.

He kissed her forehead.

"You're so much cuter when you're not screaming," he told her. "It's unbecoming. Though I guess you're always, _always_ pretty priceless."

Her little fingers wound around the strings dangling from the Harvard hoody he liked to steal from Will. Her lip started trembling.

"Okay, okay," Nico said. "Let's sing some more. I guess those didn't work out because they're my lullabies, we need one for you."

Just the sound of his voice calmed down Cata. That was a pretty good feeling- that something so tiny could love you so much that the sound of your voice could make them happy.

" _You are my sunshine, my only sunshine_

 _You make me happy when skies are grey._

 _You never know, dear, how much I love you_

 _Please don't take my sunshine away…"_

And just like that, the baby was asleep.


	11. beer (or camp 1)

**Thank you for all the kind reviews! It's those reviews that help me find time and energy to write.**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own anything!**

* * *

 **xi. beer (or: camp 1)**

Unlike the barricade of mortal parents clustered by Thalia's Tree (and Peleus the dragon, though that part they may not know), Nico and Will got to follow their brood through the camp borders. They saw Percy and Annabeth and Jason and Piper and Clarisse and Chris and the Stoll brothers navigating camp as well- dropping children off, trying to avoid drawing attention to themselves... But mostly Nico and Will walked around camp and tried to pretend they weren't related to anybody because it had been made expressly clear to them not to be embarrassing. When six children said the exact same thing, it was hard to pretend to have 'misunderstood'. Six was basically an army- that's where Nico and Will had gone wrong.

Getting to camp was always a whir of excitement and they lost their kids one by one to its wonder. Within two seconds, Marie Culkin -head counsellor of cabin 8- had pounced on the twins and told them that the Athena Cabin was on a ten-week Capture-the-Flag winning streak but that three of their players were out for the week and the Ares Cabin had sworn blood on the River Styx. Lucia had cracked her knuckles, Teresa had said something in the style of 'let them try', and after two more campers disappeared in the cabin, it had shut its doors.

A musical, delighted laugh had preceded the materialisation of Calixa Courmier, who wrapped her arms around an equally thrilled Daniel- they'd walked over to the Muse's shared cabin after a quick goodbye. Cata was so happy to be back at Camp and so energised by the grounds' rush of magic that some of her dreadlocks turned gold or green. She kissed each dad on the cheek quickly before rushing back to the Hecate cabin where other hyperactive magic kids were waiting. The chimney spurted blue smoke, and its windows glowed. Two small children of Demeter, Daisy and Duke, came to grab Francesca's bags and fire off about anything and everything that had happened since her last visit. Daveed Cohen, Cabin 13's current counsellor, came to say hello to Francesca, and pay his respects to Nico- who promised to stop by later.

Emilia was shy. She held onto Nico's hand, hiding behind him. He knelt in front of her.

"Your sisters and Daniel disappeared for a reason, and they're right," Nico said. "Camp's a whole new place, and a big, big place- but you have to make it on your own, _tesorino."_

"He's right," Will said. "You're twelve-years old now. You can do it, baby girl."

Emilia chewed the skin between her thumb and forefinger and looked around hesitantly.

"I'm scared I'll have a seizure."

"You haven't had seizures in years, baby," Will said. "But if it happens someone will catch you and they'll take care of you and watch your head. Chiron is one of the best healers I've ever met and my brother, the counsellor of the Apollo Cabin? He's amazing."

Emilia nodded. "What if the kids laugh at me because I can't read?"

"Most of the kids here have trouble reading," Nico said.

"But they're dyslexic, not stupid."

"You have FAS, you're not stupid," Will said. "You're not the only one here with ADHD either, or sensory processing disorder, or who wears glasses and contact lenses."

Emilia chewed her thumb again. Nico tapped her hand and she pulled her hand from her mouth.

"Look, I know it's hard to believe Emi, but nobody's alone at Camp Half-Blood," Nico said. He wished he could convey the weight of the First Prophecy, the stigma around children of Hades' and his years of loneliness to Emilia- just to prove to her that if he could fit in after all of that… She would too. She would be happy and safe here. She would make friendships that would last a lifetime. She would be happy.

"Will I be okay?" Emilia asked.

"Of course, baby," Will said. "Papa helped you pack last night, you have _everything_ you need. Cata and Daniel and everybody else are right here for you. You'll meet your other brothers and sisters, other kids who dance, and tons of other people you'd never have thought you could be friends with. You'll have a great summer."

"Hi," someone said walking up to them. His copy-pasted, magazine-ready good looks and the walkie-talkie clipped to his waist gave him away before he introduced himself. "My name's Ben Oskar, son of Zeus, counsellor of Cabin 1 and head of the welcoming committee."

"Emilia Solace," Emilia said at once, holding out her hand. Ben shook it, kissed the top of her hand which made Emilia smile and made Nico want to punch something.

"Could I help you find a cabin, or would you like to see Cabin 11?" Jesse asked.

"I'm a daughter of Eros," she said.

"Wonderful," Ben said. To his credit, Ben's enthusiasm only flickered a little when he heard _Eros._ It could have been worst. Now _that_ was something that only Emilia could deal with. It wouldn't be fun. Nico anticipated plenty of Iris Messages.

He spoke into his walkie-talkie. "Ben to All. Could I get Stella Sponza by the hearth please, Sponza by the hearth- I have a Green for you."

Emilia looked over her shoulder, heavy curls falling over her eyes. Nico smiled, trying to look encouraging. Emilia turned back around. In her jean cutoffs and her pink top and her half ponytail she looked grown up, Nico thought, even if she was only twelve. That was a scary thought. She was holding her suitcase tightly, knuckles turning white. It comforted Nico a bit that he could still remember in which corner Pippa, the stuffed rabbit, was packed.

Ben turned back around and smiled.

"Your counsellor's busy, but your sister-cabin will be by," Ben said. "That's, like, a bigger Olympian cabin that partners up with a minor god's cabin- you know, to have fairer numbers during Capture-the-Flag, fill up the bathrooms during shower times..."

A tall, lean boy with curly black hair and pieces of broken hearts stuck to the underside of his shoes (probably) surfaced.

"There we go," Ben said. "Emilia, meet Eric, son of Aphrodite. He'll show you around and find someone to help you get settled in."

"Hey," Eric smiled holding his hand out. He lacked Ben's grace and his eyes lingered on Nico and Will for a bit. "Nice to meet you Emilia. Want to say bye now or later?"

Emilia turned around again and then opened her arms. Will hugged her first, kissing her hair.

"Love you."

"Will you write?" Emilia asked.

"Of course."

She lowered her voice. "And draw lots of pictures instead of words, sometimes? So I don't have to read?"

"When don't we?" Nico asked as she shifted over to his arms. "Have fun."

Eric helped her drag her trunk away, and Will's arm snaked around Nico's waist.

"Shall we make ourselves sparse?" Nico asked.

"After we drink, of course," Will said.

"Gods, if there was ever a year where we needed it," Nico said.

Nico always found it difficult to just _leave_ his kids for a summer. Of course, the fact that they were at Camp Half-Blood helped. But it was a hard pill to swallow that they couldn't help their kids through 'being a demigod'. All the drama within their cabins and with their godly parents? It meant nothing that Nico and Hades had come close to family therapy fifteen times; his kids had to work it out for themselves. Swordplay, monster recognition, emergency first aid, mythology lessons? Yes; they _did_ have to come to camp to learn these things, Nico and Will could only do so much. And of course, knowing how brutal Capture-the-flag, chariot races and swordfighting lessons could be was a bit hard on Nico's nerves (though he hadn't particularly questioned it when _he_ had been a camper).

They walked back to camp and saw its summer skin form. A bunch of musically talented kids (Daniel included) were sitting around the hearth and playing music for the other campers. None of their beds were made, probably. Nico saw Hestia, sitting on the ground and nodding her head to the music. Nico wondered if Daniel knew he had a goddess in his audience. Chiron was trotting about, shaking hands and catching up with campers who had been away for a year. Francesca was probably in the strawberry fields already- with her brothers and sisters and the children of Demeter. The children of Zeus were flying kites which zoomed and twirled and twisted around- the children of Poseidon were making friends with the river nymphs and pulling out canoes and kayaks for the other campers. The nymphs were so hyped about all the new arrivals that a warm breeze blew through camp, carrying the smells of strawberries and pine. Someone on the climbing wall was already yelling. Campers were daring each other to poke Peleus the dragon. Armour and jeans, sneakers and weaponry started to mix together. Girls braided each other's hair and then compared knives three feet away- or at the same time. This was camp at its finest, on its sunniest, best day.

They let themselves into the Big House as Percy crossed from the kitchen to the rec room, carrying a beer in each hand. In the main room they heard Piper telling a story, the Stoll brothers' unmistakeable laugh…

"Hey," Percy smiled. Grey hair was settling nicely atop his head, and he waved a hand. He tossed the beers to someone in the rec room. "Chiron put some beers in the fridge for us this year, so there are a couple of cold ones left... Want a shot of nectar in yours?"

"Drinking alcohol in its grubbiest form in the Big House, totally inconsiderate of others," Mr D mumbled as he glided down the stairs of the Big House grumpily. "As if this day isn't hard enough for me, all these brats coming back. Should have turned you to shrubbery, all of you. And you two especially. How many are you two overgrown brats dropping off this year, twelve?"

"Six," Will corrected him. "Pleasure to see you again, Mr D."

"Six!" Mr D said. "Six is plainly an _exaggeration."_

"Holy Styx," Percy said. "Emmie's twelve… You're dropping off all of them this year, aren't you?"

"Yeah," Nico said. "She's big enough, now."

"Wow," Percy said. "Yeah, shot of nectar in that. Leo was supposed to bring vodka too, so just hold on a second..."


	12. renovations

**Hi! Sorry about the delay. I've been sort of swamped (not that I'm not swamped right now) and sleepless and everything is falling apart but don't worry about it, have a drabble! Please be safe if you're participating in the protests in the US. Actually, stay safe wherever you are lovelies. Take care of yourselves.**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own anything!**

 **Also keep in mind that this series dabbles across the timeline- so if kids get younger or older or dissapear because they haven't been adopted yet, worry not.**

* * *

 **xii: renovations**

"We have a mutiny on our hands," Nico said under his breath. Will stopped chopping tomatoes for a second.

"Okay," Will said. "I didn't know we were all onboard the S.S. SOLACE-DI ANGELO, but alright. What's the problem?"

"I'm rethinking the sleeping arrangements we have going on down there," Nico said.

"Really?" Will said, resuming the chopping.

"Yes," Nico said. "It has been eleven minutes and Cata has stolen Daniel's leg while Tessa tried to smother Franca under a pillow."

"Smother?" Will said, horrified. "She is _six."_

"She's been doing this since the age of four, don't act surprised," Nico said. "What I'm trying to get at here is that I was the good, kind father who set up air mattresses and sleeping bag pile-ups downstairs as well as a generous supply of night lights. So you need to be the dad that tells them to knock their shit off. I'll keep going with supper."

"What?" Will said. "You can't just dump this on me."

"I'm sorry, who didn't stop that drakon from busting up the top floor, thus making us _need_ to relocate the kids to downstairs while Cabin 9 lowkey fixes our house?" Nico said.

"Whoa, who has been leaving their Big Three scent all over this house in the first place?" Will said.

"For all we know, it was Daniel," Nico said.

"Or Cata."

"No, we agreed that Cata was probably Hecate," Nico said.

"True," Will said. "Sometimes I forget because she kind of looks like you."

"No she doesn't," Nico said.

"A bit," Will said. "You know, in the nose…"

"She's adopted," Nico said. "They all are. All four of them. Four children, we have- by the way. They're downstairs. Go talk them into a cease-fire. I'll be making ravioli."

"Ravioli," Will said.

« And that pumpkin-pecan braid, » Nico said. "That thing that you love."

"Don't bribe me with food," Will said.

"I've been the Bad Dad all week," Nico said. "While you worked I had to talk Tessa down from the roof, Franca cried literally once a day and Cata was stuck with horns for three hours on Tuesday. Three. Please be the Bad Dad while I prepare delicious ravioli."

"Damn it."

Nico had done his absolute best to give their small army the best possible environment in which they may be able to be nice to one another. Four distinct sleeping nooks with small pileup of sleeping bags or air mattresses as a base were lining the wall. Each children's pillows and blankies and prime stuffed animals had been brought down as well- Will could tell by the squishy squid where Cata slept, trace Francesca's nook to where the smells of herbal sachets came from, Daniel had brought his guitar down from upstairs and each of Teresa's stuffed animals were all propped up and reading a book. Fairy lights and nightlights were illuminating their corner and little electric tea candles were circling everything.

And yes, now Tessa was being smothered under a pillow by the combined forces of Cata and Daniel who were struggling to keep the six-year old contained.

"Quit it," Will said. "Quit it in three, two…"

They got off. Teresa emerged from under the pillow, still holding her breath.

"I could have lasted another six minutes," Teresa said quickly.

"We don't need to test that sweetheart," Will said. "Okay, listen up. You guys have a pretty sweet deal upstairs. You each have your own little room, you don't have to share everything. Guess what, when Dad was growing up- he had twelve brothers and sisters in his room."

"Twelve," Franca echoed.

"That's how old Danny is," Tessa piped in.

"Very good," Will said. "And you know what? Dad never murdered anyone."

"What about Papa?"

"Him either," Will said. Not to mention that Nico di Angelo had had all but two roommates at a time, most of which were actually quest buddies with which he camped in wide open spaces. To tell the truth, moving in with Nico had been like sharing space with a troglodyte for the first three months- with occasional episodes of reoccurrence after that. Usually around March. If these kids had any of Nico di Angelo's genetic material, Will would be able to accept this mutiny-but right now his stance was to 'drop it'.

"Look, here's what you guys need to remember," Will said. "The basement is a space we share. It's like how everyone's allowed to sit at the kitchen table even if you wish that Cata wasn't there too eating all the breadsticks."

"Franca eats more than she says she does," Cata said.

"But Cata eats more," Daniel said- which led to Cata launching herself onto Daniel and Will having to pull her off.

"No," Will said. "This is what I'm talking about. This is the kind of thing I want you guys to stop doing."

"Guess what Franca was talking about in her sleep last night," Tessa said. " _Jordie, oh Jordie I love you so so much, and I wish I could marry you…"_

"Stop!" Francesca cried.

"Yeah, Joshua's his name," Daniel said. "Jordie is mine."

"You can't call dibs on a person you gross fart," Cata said.

"Stop it," Will said. "First off, Tessa how do you know what Franca said in her sleep?"

"I listened to Franca sleep to prepare for tonight," Teresa said- all words not usually strung together by small children.

"Tessa that's horrible!" Franca said.

"You are all being horrible," Will said. "There are four of you sharing the basement for the next little bit. Calm down. No teasing each other, no poking each other, no touching each other's stuff, no pulling hair, and definitely no hitting each other. I don't know how I can be clearer."

"Do you have a zit Danny?"

"Leave me alone!" Daniel said.

Will grabbed Cata around the waist and got up, dangling her like a rag doll or a four year old child.

"Okay," Will said. "You know what? Basement's off limits until bedtime. Francesca, you can go outside and play on the swings. Daniel, you should go help Papa in the kitchen. Tessa, how about we go read a book- Cata, you get the TV."

"Why does she get the TV?" Daniel asked.

"Because you'll be in the kitchen; let's go." Will said.

They all marched upstairs. Nico looked over his shoulder.

"I'm here to help," Danny mumbled.

"Okay," Nico said. "Go wash your hands first."

"Yeah," Danny said sheepishly marching to the bathroom.

Nico turned around and smiled slyly. "Bad cop?"

"Oh yeah," Will said walking to him. He leaned in, kissed Nico. "The worst."

"That's what I think too," Nico said.

"Nico we're married," Will said.

"Yeah, it's pretty bad," Nico said.

"Nico."

"Stop protesting, I'm making you pumpkin-pecan braid aren't I?" Nico said. "Danny come in here, we've got pasta dough to roll."


	13. broken

**Hi! Guess how many projects I should be writing right now! So many! But I'm giving myself a few hours off because a) I'm cutting into my sleeping time and b) I got great news this weekend about being admitted to a new university in Vancouver where I can change my major and move away from home and live close to the sea and the mountains and work with some of the best profs and I'm just super duper happy.**

 **Enjoy!**

 **Disclaimer: Don't own anything!**

* * *

 **xiv: broken**

Will opened his locker and contemplated all the happy things in there. His stash of emergency licorice. The drawings and Father's Day cards he'd put up along with cutesy pictures of the girls. A wedding picture. The warm, comfortable, never-been-barfed-on-or-bloodied clothes he would put on and go home in… It had been a long day.

He was making conversation with Assira who had her locker nearby when his pager went off. He swore quietly.

"You want me to take it?" Assira asked. "I don't have plans tonight."

Will was tempted -Nico was making lasagna tonight and he'd promised Francesca to help her water her cucumbers since her other dad couldn't garden with her without killing her crops… But something in his stomach answered no before Will could tell Assira to go watch a movie or have a glass of wine or something.

He went back down to the floor and was sent to the ER immediately.

"What's up?" Will asked, putting on a gown.

"Little boy, eight years old, hit by… We don't know," one of the nurses said. "Neighbour said he was playing basketball on the driveway and then she heard him scream and he was down."

"Hit by a car?" Will asked.

"Not according to the chatter," she said.

Then Will heard paramedics ordering people to move and he just followed them into a trauma room where a little boy… Working with sick kids was hard, that was plain fact. But for some reason this little boy went straight to Will's heart. He was small, with creamy pale blond hair. He was wearing a t-shirt with the Beatles' faces on it and basketball shorts. That was the image Will could paint of him without getting too graphic with the blood and the mangled leg and…

"John Doe, partial amputation of the right leg. Blunt force trauma to the head and abdomen…" She went on with the jargon.

"No name?" An ER doctor said.

"Neighbour didn't know," the paramedic answered. "Says he's from a foster home. Kids change all the time."

"Any idea where the foster _parents_ are?"

"Police are working on it."

While they pushed fluids and set up an oxygen mask, Will noticed something wrong with the injury. The little boy's muscles and flesh were charred and… greenish?

"What in the world is that?" One of the doctors said.

"Tissue's contaminated," Will said. He had no idea what this meant, but he'd seen something like it during the Titan War. Pollux would have lost his leg or died of near-immediate septic shock if Will hadn't had plenty of nectar on hand- which he didn't have now. It was a bit unorthodox, but Will let one of his hands drop. He pressed his palm against the little boy's side. A wave of heat ran through Will. Ichor. This boy had ichor in his veins.

"This leg needs to come off before whatever that infection is spreads," Will said.

"Dr Solace…" He didn't know who said it.

"Look," Will said. The boy's foot was black- necrosis.

"How is that possible so soon?"

"That doesn't matter for now, get an OR ready," Will said. He kept his hand pushed against the boy's side, trying to send warmth the other way. His own healing magic, pushed from him and Apollo right back to this little boy. He usually didn't, you had better chances of hurting a mortal forever than of treating them when you started messing with magic. But this boy wasn't mortal and this injury wasn't normal, which meant that Will was going to have to think outside the box.

* * *

Will leaned against the counter of the nurse's station. When you were really nice to the nurses consistently, they let you use your phone.

"I'm sorry," Will said. "I'm being held up. I have no idea how long I'll be here. Maybe I'll be here after bedtime, yeah. Can you tell Franca I have to barter with Grandpa to make the sun shines especially hard before we garden? Yes, she'll like that. No, I haven't used that already. Thank you. Love you. Goodbye."

He hung up. Lorelei, a particularly young nurse, smiled at him.

"Long night ahead of you?"

"Paperwork," Will lied.

He went to sit down in the little boy's hospital room. An oxygen tube snaked up the little boy's nostrils, but he'd been cleaned up rather well. They'd ruled out brain injuries. Other than a few broken ribs and a sprained wrist, he would be okay. But of course, he'd lost his leg. For real. For sure. The only thing Will could do about that was make the amputation clean.

He eased back down in the chair.

"Solace?"

The chief of surgery happened to stop by with some police officers.

"Yes, Dr Lang," Will said, rising.

"What are you doing here?" She asked him.

"I…" Will said. Dr Lang interrupted him, turning towards the police.

"Dr Solace is our best. He's the one who performed the surgery." She turned back to him. He wasn't off the hook.

"I just heard that he didn't have any family. That his foster parents were charged with negligence, that they couldn't come in to see him," Will said. "I didn't think it was fair for him to be on his own after all of this- in case he wakes up."

Dr Lang looked at him for some time.

"Officers will be posted at his door all night for security," Dr Lang said. "He's safe."

"That's not what I meant," Will said. There was a celestial bronze dagger in the long pocket on the leg of Will's scrubs.

For a second he thought he was going to get kicked out, but Dr Lang just nodded.

"Okay," she said. "Okay."

"Can I just…" Will stopped, thinking he might be pushing his luck now. Oh well. "Can I know what his name is? I saved his life."

"Daniel Brown," one of the police officers said. "Eight years old."

* * *

Daniel Brown woke up at around 3:00 AM screaming for someone to stop.

"Daniel, Daniel, relax," Will said springing to his feet. Some nurses thankfully came in to help him settle Daniel town and take vitals.

"My name's Will, I'm a doctor," Will said. He checked Daniel's pupils for movement.

"My leg hurts, can you fix it?" Daniel asked. Will checked the other pupil.

"Which leg, Daniel?" Will said.

"My right leg," Daniel said.

"Okay," Will said. "Daniel, I have something to tell you…"

* * *

Will's checker piece hopped over Daniel's. Daniel grinned and moved one of his- gobbling up three of Will's pieces in one stride. He laughed at Will's reaction.

"You got me there," Will said.

" _And_ you have to queen me!" Daniel said.

"What?" Will checked the board and feigned outrage. "That's not fair!"

Daniel laughed some more. His laughter was so precious, Will probably would have let him win anyways- but he was so exhausted after his shift, it was hard to tell. He just wanted to play one more game with Danny before going home. The girls didn't have school today, so they'd still be around when he got home- it would be fine.

"Did you know I'm going home soon," Daniel said, taking a bite of his breakfast.

"I didn't," Will said. "That's good news. It means that you're an expert at walking with your new leg. Are you excited?"

"But it's not the same home," Daniel said. "I have to switch again."

"Oh," Will said. "How many homes have you been in?"

"Five," Daniel said.

He was eight.

"Have you met your new parents yet?" Will asked.

"No," Daniel said. "I'm meeting them tomorrow. I hope they're going to be nice."

"Were your last parents nice, Daniel?" Will asked.

"They were," Daniel said. "The neighbours weren't."

"The neighbours?" Will said. "The neighbour that called 911 when you got hurt?"

Daniel shook his head. He didn't remember much of the accident, but Mrs. Hale had brought him cookies in the hospital (which Will was a little ashamed he'd helped Daniel hide) so he knew she'd helped.

"She's our neighbour to the left. I mean our neighbour to the right. It's, like, a lot of girls in one house. Anna said it was a sorority? Their house smelled like wet dog all the time," Daniel said. "But they didn't have dogs. The other kids laughed at them for speaking funny but I didn't. One time I kicked a ball in their yard and two girls were eating outside but she was just eating chicken that wasn't even cooked. Isn't that weird?"

 _Empoussa,_ Will thought.

He chewed his lip as Daniel kept talking. What were the odds that a demigod child had ended up living next door to an empoussa nest? No; that was the wrong question. What were the odds that an empoussa would stop looking for a demigod child whose blood they had tasted?

* * *

"I have a crazy suggestion," Will told the social service worker at the hospital.

"I love crazy at 8:00 AM," Sasha said pushing away from her desk and spinning around to face Will. She was a sweetheart of a woman with a round face and big blue eyes. Also she owed Sasha a favour. Will didn't know how big it was, but he was about to find out.

He sat down on the corner of her desk. "So that little boy, Daniel Brown?"

"Cutie Patootie in Room 217," Sasha said. "Yes?"

"I heard he's going home soon," Will said.

"Yes," Sasha said. "Ortho and his physical therapist have cleared him."

"That's great," Will said. "And he's not going back to his previous home, right?"

"No," Sasha said. "No, no, no. That's… complicated."

Will felt pretty bad. It wasn't his mortal foster parents' faults that Daniel had been attacked by a monster. What could they have done?

"Well, I was thinking…" Will said. "Even if it's two years since our last, my husband and I are trained foster parents."

Sasha looked at him, arching an eyebrow.

"I know it sounds crazy," Will said. "You were warned."

"That I was," Sasha said carefully.

"But Daniel knows me," Will said. "And I'm a doctor. I'll be able to help him adjust to life with a prosthetic limb. I'll be able to keep an eye on him. He's been through some pretty intense trauma, I don't think just anyone can help him through this and if he's not well framed now, it could make the rest of his development -the rest of his _life-_ a special kind of hell. My husband and I already have daughters with special needs. I'm just saying... we're a little ideal."

Sasha pursed her lips. Will held his breath and she reached for some Post-It notes and a pen.

"Let me get back to you on that. I'll make a few phone calls."

Will could have hugged her.

* * *

Nico and Will were trying to ease their pace to match Daniel's as they pushed a cart through IKEA. He was all hyped up on meatballs at the moment, but he'd burn out pretty quickly. He kept underestimating the weight of his leg and the friction it caused and how tired of that he would get.

They were looking at posters now. Daniel cracked up when he found one of a monkey balancing a banana on his nose.

"This one's so funny Dads, look!" Daniel said.

They looked at each other, trying to be subtle. Will could basically feel himself grinning.

"Put it in the cart, kiddo," Nico said.

* * *

Will and Nico had a framed poster in the kitchen that Lacy had designed for them. All of their names were spelled down and connected like crossword puzzles.

Will felt like an ass, but he had to ask Lacy for a new version. Francesca then shared her last 'a' with Daniel.

They put it up just before heading out to the courthouse, when Will pretended to forget his keys, so that Danny would walk in and see it ofter the fireplace.

* * *

His heartbeat was so close to the speed of light. And that was Will's medical expertise talking.

"You've got everything?" Nico asked.

"Dad already asked twice," Cata said. Her hair was freshly braided for the summer, but she'd tucked her glasses in her back pocket. Will had promised that nobody would pick on her for it, but she didn't believe him just quite yet. Her eyes were her favourite shade of apple green for the occasion, and she was wearing overralls and a white t-shirt and red sneakers. She was holding her trunk by the handle, knuckles white.

"Well now it's my turn," Nico said. He opened his arms and two kids swarmed in. Daniel was wearing a Nirvana shirt and jeans and converse sneakers. His guitar was slung over his shoulder as extra baggage.

Then it was Will's turn. He kissed Cata's head and ruffled Daniel's hair. It embarassed him even more.

"Be good," he said. "The harpies will eat you."

"Yeah," Nico said. "We don't want any calls from Mr D. Your father and I have a reputation to hold up."

"Who's Mr D?" Cata asked.

"You'll see," Nico said. "You will see. Now go, cross the borders or we'll lose your self control and follow you in and embarrass you guys."

They did go in of their own free will. Nico and Will may have been embarassing by starring them down as they tracked down their counselors. There was a lot of activity going around in the valley, and their two biggest kids were pretty excited to go- so maybe they weren't even looking back. But Will knew that he was looking forwards- watching them, watching all the other kids.

Watching Danny and the newest prosthetic he'd grown into and limp a bit because of the trunk he was dragging and... and...

"Dan's going to be okay right," Will asked quietly.

"He's always been able to keep up," Nico said. "Worst case scenario, all of camp will fall in love with him and make it work."

"Right," Will said. "Right."

* * *

"Dad," Daniel said. He shifted uneasily, throwing all of his weight on his biological leg. Cata took his hand.

"What's going on, Danny?" Will said.

"At... at camp," Daniel said. He swallowed. "I was... I didn't find out who my mother was, but Iris came to me in a dream once she found out. She told me she wasn't my mother but she knew who my mother was. And she's still alive."

"Oh," Will said.

" _Oh,"_ Nico said.

"And she's in Boston," Daniel said. "So we're going to... to go see her."

"Are you sure?" Nico asked.

"Seriously Danny, are you sure? Have you thinking about this?"

"Since August," Daniel said. "It's been three months. I need to know."

"Okay," Nico said.

"Do you want us there?" Will asked. This hadn't happened before. As far as they knew, there was no reason for it to happen ever again. Cata and Franca's dads were dead - graves may be visited one day, Tessa's father was in prison for life but she'd come to the weirdly wise conclusion that she didn't want to know yet if outer space still wasn't figured out, and Emilia... Actually, Emilia's story wasn't clear at all quite yet. But seriously, this was strange.

"No," Danny said. "Not really. I... I can go."

"With me," Catalina weighed in.

"With Cata," Danny said.

* * *

They'd printed out the bus route, the map of Harvard's main campus, and her profile page from the Department of the Classics' website.

They were standing in front of a conference room and twidling their thumb. There was a class in session. The room was full of sunshine and students were taking notes and Danny had worn a button-up Dad had bought for him to go to a wedding. And jeans. That was stupid, he looked stupid in a button-up. He should have worn what he always wore. Cata was wearing a bandanna in her hair and a cardigan that clung to her knees and ratty jeans and a ratty t-shirt and she looked good to go. She looked fine. She looked like you'd want to talk to her.

Daniel shrugged his backpack onto his other shoulder.

"Want me to carry it?" Cata asked.

"No," Daniel said. "How long?"

"She finishes teaching at 2:30," Cata said. She took Danny's hand and checked his watch for him. "Six minutes."

"Okay," Daniel said.

His mom taught at Harvard. It was crazy. Right now her class was _Introduction to Roman Literature,_ but she also taught _Introduction to Greek Literature, Roman rhetoric, Special Studies in Literature of the Antiquity..._ She was a smart lady.

"We could come back another day," Cata said. "I mean, technically we're skipping school for this..."

"No," Daniel said. "I don't want to come during her office hours. In case her students come by."

"Okay," Cata said.

They waited in silence. The class poured out pretty quickly. A woman with greying hair pulled into a ponytail and a straight line for a mouth walked out of the class. She was spindly like Daniel and his stomach turned. She repositioned the messenger bag on her shoulder and locked the class and turned around.

"Hello," she said.

"Umm," Daniel said. He was angry at himself now, this wasn't a good or smart or memorable first thing to tell his birth mother. "Are you Dr Miriam Herschel?"

She looked at them top to bottom.

"You're too young to be students here," she said. "But yes, how can I help you?"

"My name is Daniel," he said. "I'm your son."

Her eyes flared after two seconds of processing. "In my office. Now. It's down the hall."

She led them. Daniel struggled to keep up.

"I- I hope we're not interrupting..."

"Your friend can stay outside," Miriam said.

"I'm his sister," Catalina said.

"Not by me, so you can wait outside," Miriam said. She unlocked another door and ushered Danny in. He didn't want to sound like a horrible person, but he was a little... pissed. The office looked clean and orderly. A big calendar on the wall had items colour-coded. Pictures were tacked above a very organised desk. The computer's background were a procession of Athenian and Roman ruins. Her books were covered in shelves. The office was put together and pristine, by a woman who was put-together and pristine. Why, then, wasn't he accounted for?

"You can make yourself comfortable," she said. She took her desk hair herself and swirled around to face him before Danny could even oblige. "How did you find me?"

"My mom told me," Daniel said.

"She had no right," Miriam said- which took Daniel a bit by surprise.

"Sorry?" he asked.

"She had no right to tell you where to find me," Miriam said. "Did you want something to drink?"

"I- I, no, I don't want something to drink."

"Are you looking for money?" Miriam asked.

"No!" Daniel said. "No, I'm adopted. My dads take care of me."

"Then what do you want?" Miriam asked. "Why are you here? Shouldn't you be in school?"

Daniel didn't know how to react, so he lost all his tact and became honest.

"I just wanted to meet you," he said. "I was curious. Haven't you wondered about me?"

Miriam took lecture notes and notebooks from her bag and started putting them away. Everything was specific and robotic.

"I thought it would have been clear when I gave you up for adoption," Miriam said. She looked up. "I never wanted children. When your mother brought you to me, I had no idea this could happen. I don't consider myself to be a mother."

Daniel's stomach twisted. "I- I'm not asking you about that... I mean, to do that..."

"I'm sorry," she said. "That wasn't clear. I don't consider that I have a son."

That got to Daniel's stomach more like a punch. "You don't need to take care of me, You don't need to raise me or anything, I'm just... I thought it was cool that you taught ancient literature. I love reading, you know, even though I'm dyslexic..."

"You're dyslexic?" She asked.

Daniel blushed. She hadn't said it meanly. She'd asked it like a question, he had said she could ask him questions.

"I am," Daniel said. "And..."

"Do you have another birth defect that causes your limp?" Miriam asked. That wasn't asked meanly either, but it made Daniel's cheeks flush. He rose to his feet.

"I have a prosthetic leg," Daniel said. "I was attacked when I was eight years old because nobody knew I was a half-blood, because nobody was looking out for me, because the person who could have left the hospital three days before me."

"I knew this was about revenge or something in the likes," Miriam said. Daniel wanted to scream.

"I'm not- I didn't- I can't..." Daniel said. "Do you at least know who my mother is? You said a goddess brought me to you, but who?"

"No," Miriam said. "I don't. She never divulged her true identity. She was a fraud and a liar, taking advantage of my scientific curiosity. Like I said. I didn't even know you were possible. She is a frivolous, egotistical, woman. You are most likely better off never meeting her. God knows I would have."

Danny's stomach turned.

"You don't even know me," Daniel said.

"I don't mean it in that sense," Miriam said. "The goddess brought you to me at a bad time. I was about to embark on my doctoral studies. I had three months to memorise 350 books on literary history before appearing in front of a committee. I had been waiting for this doctoral program for years."

"And a baby wasn't worth it," Daniel said.

"A baby wasn't my choice," Miriam said. "I would have resented you for slowing down my research."

"I'm sorry. I was curious and I wanted to see what you were like and maybe talk with you," Daniel said.

Miriam fiddled on a ring on her forefinger. "I think we can both see that that's not a wise idea."

"Yeah," Daniel said. "Yeah I can see that. I should go."

* * *

"Hey," Will said. "Hey, Daniel, relax… Daniel, don't pull out your IV, I'm right here baby."

Daniel's thrashing slowed and he looked around again. Will turned on the night lamp and Daniel winced at the light.

"You're okay," Will promised. "You're okay."

"Sorry Dad," Daniel said. "I'm sorry, I didn't want to wake you up. I just had a nightmare."

"It's okay," Will said. He hoped that Daniel would be too groggy and sleepy to notice the bow and quiver propped up next to his chair. Will was standing guard, he hadn't been planning to sleep. And even if he had, Will was Daniel's father so he wouldn't manage it, period. "Do you want to talk about it?"

Daniel hugged his old bear to his chest. He knew that the hospital still had dozens of these bears in storage rooms here and there- specifically for kids who came to the hospital alone and unprepared. Daniel's just so happened to have been well-loved for a little longer, and it bore careful purple stitching behind its ear where Nico had fixed it (twice).

"Is it about surgery?" Will asked again. Daniel hugged his bear even tighter.

"Hey," Will said. "Daniel, Dr Simston is one of the best. You know I wouldn't let her near if she wasn't, I've got insider information. It's going to be okay."

He regretted those words. When _he_ had a patient, he never said 'it's going to be okay' or 'it'll work out' because you couldn't promise that to anyone. But he couldn't lie or half-truth his own child. Not to his son.

"I know," Daniel said. "I'm not scared."

"It's okay if you are."

"I'm not scared. I just don't want it to happen." Daniel said quietly.

"I know," Will said. "I wish it didn't have to be like… like this."

The infection that had cost Daniel most of his leg had started to manifest itself above his knee. He'd been scheduled for a hemipelvectomy as soon as possible- a rarer, higher leg amputation. It felt cruel, five years after Daniel's first amputation.

Daniel threw an arm over his eyes, letting the stuffed animal fall to the ground.

"I wanted my leg back so bad, but instead I lose more of it," Daniel said. "It's not fair."

"It's not," Will agreed. Daniel's breathing changed to a trying-not-to-cry rhythm.

"I don't get it…" Daniel said. "I'm so sick of being broken. Why do I just break more?"

"Daniel, you are _not_ broken," Will said quietly.

"Tell that to the kids at camp, who don't even give me a _decoy_ job during capture-the-flag, or who go easy on me when we're sparring even if I beat them every time," Daniel said. He choked. "Tell that to my mom up there won't claim me."

"Oh, Daniel…" Will said.

"Stop, Dad." Daniel said. "Thirty-five kids were claimed at camp this summer. It was a record. So why not me? If I'm not broken, if everything's okay, why not me? Why do… it's not my fault I didn't know how to fight, Dad. It's not my fault but now nobody wants me and I'm just breaking more. If it's not my leg, then why don't they want me, Dad? Why aren't I good enough?"

Will eased himself from the chair to Daniel's bed and he collected Daniel in his arms, bringing him against his chest.

"Daniel Lee Solace," he said quietly. "When I met you, you were broken. You were dying. You were hurt. You were covered in blood. But you were strong enough to survive the five hours of work it took to put you back together. You were strong enough to snatch my heart right out of my chest without even saying a word."

He ran his fingers through Daniel's hair. That always calmed him down, and it helped to calm down Will. To keep talking instead of agreeing with his kid that damnit life wasn't fair and just cry too.

"You were strong enough to put on a prosthetic leg and dare your physical therapist to race you to the cafeteria to make her buy you pudding. After two sessions. You were strong enough to learn how to bike again. You were strong enough to claim a room on the second floor of our house the first time you saw it. You were strong enough to pack a bag for the hospital on your own and throw a goodbye party for your leg to make your worried sisters laugh. You are strong. Call yourself broken all you want, but you are not half a boy. Whenever you feel that way, just remember that I loved you first- long after your leg was gone."

Daniel's breathing relaxed against Will's chest.

"Also let me tell you a secret," Will said. "Immortal parents _suck._ They have zero judgement, a poor understanding of humankind and they don't really know how to judge our value, Daniel."

Daniel laughed a bit. "That's why I'm glad I have you."


	14. complicated

**My finals are starting to kill me _*yay yay yay*_** **I'm having a lot of fun right now exploring all the different Solace children, and Francesca is particularily near and dear to my heart because she's just super sweet in my head, but she's also an explorer which really resonates with me because I love traveling.** **Also I'm about to move across Canada for school in Vancouver ( _yay yay yay_ ). Turns out that moving is a lot of trouble, but I confirmed that I have a place to live today and if that doesn't help well what does? Enjoy this short one! The next one is bigger, I promise.**

 **Disclaimer: Don't own anything!**

* * *

 **xiv : complicated**

Behind Nico, the doors burst open. Heels clicked against the floor, and he heard the whoosh of heavy skirts dragging against the ground. He spun around and saw Persephone, who saw him and immediately became wary.

"Your father will be here for you in a minute," she said annoyed.

"I didn't ask them for my father, I asked them for the Queen," Nico said.

"Flattering," Persephone answered. "Like I said, your father will be here in a minute. Shouldn't you stop running back to daddy all the time, at your age?"

"I don't think you want me talking to my father about this," he said. "Trust me."

"I hope that just because you've done a bit of growing up and beard-growing at the surface doesn't mean you have any more delusions than you used to have about what your place is around here."

Nico reached for his phone, flicked through his pictures (Cata, wedding, Cata, stupid selfie from Will, stupid selfie, Cata, stupid selfie, stupid selfie, Cata, Cata, _aha)._ He showed Persephone the screen.

"Does she look familiar?" Nico asked.

Persephone paled and her jaw twitched with anger.

"How did you find her?" Persephone asked.

"She found us," Nico said. "Nearly literally. We have a friend at Child Services who sees through the mist. She did some more-or-less ethical paperwork to direct this child to Will and I and we got custody of her in record-speed. She's yours, isn't she?"

"That's none of your concern," Nico said.

"Save it. I don't care if you slept with a mortal, and Olympus knows my dad probably doesn't either. I mean, here _I_ am," Nico said. "But it would help if we knew who she was. She feels like a child of the Underworld to me."

"There are plenty of Underworld gods."

"But only one Queen," Nico said.

"You're dismissed, di Angelo."

"Look," Nico said. "I know that you don't like me. You're pissed that I exist, you're pissed that Hades loved my mom for so long because he never got to say goodbye, you're pissed that I'm powerful, you're pissed that I was always in the Underworld as a kid- I get it. You don't like me. But I think that Francesca is your daughter, and now she's mine. And I think that we can agree that Francesca matters more."

Perspehone was quiet. "Francesca?"

"I'm telling you; we have no idea who she is. We gave her a new name and everything because this girl has nothing," Nico said. "Who's her father-should we be looking for him, is he a deadbeat-"

Persephone gave Nico a deadly glance. Nico restarted his sentence.

"Look, maybe she was yours first but now... She's my daughter," Nico said. "This might be awkward and I can see how it's unpleasant for you, but I really don't care right now. Help me raise her as best as I can by telling me who she is and what she needs. I won't stop bothering you about this, because Francesca is worth it."

"Shall I call the guards on you, or would you prefer being turned into a dandelion? That would be a shame, I hear you have a life now." Persephone said.

Nico raised up her phone, started showing her pictures.

"She's only about six months old, we think. She's just learned how to roll over and she laughs every time she does it, it's incredibly amusing. She's remarkably good with animal sounds, which is also incredibly amusing- really she's just a hoot and a half, this baby," Nico said. "It's too bad that she's also really good at grabbing at house plants and having them flower weeks in advance. And that she's starting to lose that power and when she stomps around on the lawn, the grass withers under her feet- or she seems to shy away from sunlight now that it's fall. I mean, maybe she's sick. Or maybe she's showing powers at way too young an age that might get her into trouble. I wouldn't know, since nobody's telling me, which means I can't do everything and anything I possibly could to-"

"Her name was Josephine Mendoza," Persephone cut. The goddess turned her back and left. Nico would have considered that an answer and enough of a victory, but she kept going before he could shadow-travel away. "You should file paperwork for permanent adoption. Her father wouldn't have abandoned her, he was a good man."

"I'm sorry," Nico said. "About whatever happened to him."

Perspehone shot him one of the darkest looks Nico had ever deserved. "And maybe, just maybe, I have hope in her new ones."

Nico swallowed.

« Don't dissapoint me, » Persephone said.

« Thanks, but I'll focus on keeping her happy before I do your bidding, » Nico said. "But if that's what you're expecting, you have nothing to worry about."

Hades walked into the throne room.

"Nico," he said. "I was told you were here. Why?"

"Nothing," Nico said. "I was just showing My Lady baby pictures."

"Catalina," Hades said.

"No," Persephone said. "Francesca."


	15. sunflowers

**WHAT ESSAYS SHOULD I BE WRITING RIGHT NOW INSTEAD OF DOING THIS**

 **WHY, ONE ON THE CHRISTIANISATION OF CELTIC GODS AND ANOTHER FOR MY DUMB PHILOSOPHY CLASS THAT MAKES ME ANGRY WHENEVER I THINK OF IT.** **OOPS.**

 **I'm nursing a kidney infection and I watched an illegal video of Hamilton last week (the kidney infection is probably my karmatic debt being paid off probably... I promise that one day I'll see it legitimately and Hamilton will get all my money).**

 **BYE.** **ENJOY.**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own the PJOverse, but you guys know that.**

 **Dedication: All of you because your reviews literally make my life so much better. Since I have such limited time, I usually write for you instead of replying to your adorable and kind and thoughtful reviews- but know that I get giddy when I get email notifications and when I have a bad day, I reread them... *nerd***

* * *

 **xv : sunflowers**

"You look blue, baby girl," Will said holding his arms out. Cata drifted towards him and sat on his knee, head on his shoulder.

"Tired," she said.

"Just tired?" Will asked. "I hate to break it to you, but you're only on your third day of school."

Catalina smiled. "I miss camp. I know that sounds shitty cause we have a good deal around here, but I do."

"That's alright," Will said. "I missed camp too when I left for college. You're allowed to have two homes."

"Yeah," Cata said. "Also something else."

"What else, Cats?"

"I… I started seeing someone this summer," she said.

"Really?" Will said. "Who? Who is this?"

"Her name's Michaëlle," Cata said. "Michaëlle Pereira Matos. She's from Montreal, daughter of Hermes. She's a sweetheart Dad. An absolute dork- she figured out how to get her comics delivered to camp while bypassing the harpies because they open up the envelopes and apparently damage them. Scruff the corners, dog-ear the pages, that kind of thing. I got in her good books by replacing a Ms. Marvel graphic novel that the harpies singed with volcanic dishwater."

"Nice," Will said. "Is she your age?"

And that was all Cata needed to hear before launching into Michaëlle Pereira Matos' life story. She tye-died her orange camp t-shirts and ate pudding and soft foods like a baby and her shoelaces glowed in the dark and she could speak French, Portuguse, Créole, Italian and Spanish. Her favourite food was empanadas and her favourite method of transportation was subway, which was why their first date had been a picnic on the New York subway followed by watching a movie on a brother's borrowed iPhone while on the subway. Will wasn't sure if that was charming or disappointing- but he didn't have time to think about it because Michaëlle's favourite Jolly Rancher flavour was watermelon, she was the undefeated Oreo Lick Race Champion of camp, her favourite food was _caldo verde,_ she loved sunglasses and sunflowers and chewing sunflower seeds and the colour yellow and she drew legendary chalk drawings all over camp and make kites from scratch…

Yes, Catalina conveyed all this information (and more) with very little breathing.

"Have you talked to her since camp?" Will asked.

"Oh yeah," Catalina said. "Absolutely."

"And if you two stay in touch, would you want to go back to camp over Thanksgiving weekend?" Will said.

Cata's eyes brightened.

* * *

Will crawled into bed, rolled onto his right side and slung an arm over Nico who made an I-was-sleeping groan of protest, but then curled up to Will.

"Nico?"

"No."

"It's about a kid."

"Mmm?"

"I've figured out why the drachma jar is so empty," he said smiling. "It's pretty good."

* * *

Cata was giddy in the car. It was good that Nico was driving, because Will would have been just as bad.

"I should call Danny," Cata said. "So he can double-check to make sure the flight's not delayed."

"It was fine fifteen minutes ago Cata, if something's wrong we'll find out at the airport," Nico said.

"Do you think something went wrong?" Catalina asked eagerly.

"No I do not," Nico said. "Her father's the god of transport. I think she'll be fine."

"Kay," Catalina said. She was chewing on a fingernail and the tips of her dreadlocks were flickering between silver and gold nervously. She'd gotten all dressed up in a black cardigan and her untorn jeans and favourite boots too. She was wearing a coat over that, so Nico wasn't sure why- but clearly his role at the moment was to calm her down.

« You don't have to be so nervous, _tresoro,"_ Nico said. "She's met most of your siblings before. I think your dads are pretty cool. She's going to be super comfortable bunking upstairs with you and Francesca…"

Francesca being what Nico liked to think of as "birth control".

"I know," Cata said. She smiled brightly. "I'm just excited to see her again."

Cata not being one to tell a story twice, not even the best ones, Nico had only heard _of_ Micah- from Will and Daniel, mostly (Daniel, good brother that he was, being more than happy to spill all of the most embarrassing stories he had on his sister and her girlfriend).

Somehow, all the scraps that Nico had heard about this girl all came together when he stuffed his hands in his pockets and stood aside, watching Cata laugh into Michaëlle's hair at the airport. He couldn't help it, it was a habit he'd anchored quite profoundly- he picked this new girl apart. Curls the colour of cocoa powder. She looked disproportioned and dainty, something of a fairy. Her lips were full and dramatic Egyptian blue eyes. The telltale pointy ears and upturned nose of a child of Hermes were easy to spot from afar, as Cata held her hand and brought Michaëlle forward shyly.

"Micah," Catalina said. "This is my father, Nico di Angelo. Papa, this is…"

"Michaëlle, pleasure to meet you," Nico said extending a hand.

"Pleasure is mine," she smiled shaking his hand. Nico had read books and he'd seen movies so he knew that he should be saying something like 'wow, strong handshake'. Will probably would. But as stupid as it sounded, it was when Michaëlle shaked his hand knowing fully well who he was but smiling as if she was excited to meet her girlfriend's dad instead of an obscure and mysterious war hero… That's when he decided he liked and trusted her.

* * *

He was braiding Teresa's hair for bedtime when he heard the girls laughing upstairs- Franca, Cata and Michaëlle in the attic. He put off checking up on them for a while, trying to act slick. When he did go up, he smiled at the yellow paper flowers hanging from the ceiling and pasted to the walls. Yellow sunflowers. Michaëlle's favourite.

Franca spotted him. Nico cleared his throat.

"Do you guys all have enough blankets?" Nico asked.

"Yes Papa," Cata said. "Dad just came to check."

 _Damn it Will, what a snoop._

"Perfect," Nico said. "Shout if you need anything."

"What if Dad said to give _him_ a shout?" Cata asked.

Okay, he was a snoop too.

* * *

"Good morning Michaëlle," Nico said. He was standing at the grill, still wearing sweatpants, getting a head start on crêpes. Franca was chopping strawberries with him- they were all tiny and perfectly rounded, berries she'd brought back from camp and had had Nico freeze.

"Good morning M. di Angelo," she said. "Hi Franca."

"Do you drink coffee?" Nico asked. "There's a full pot on the counter, mugs up there."

"Thank you," Michaëlle said. "Any mug?"

"Any mug," Nico confirmed. When he heard the fridge open and close and turned around, he saw Mica working on two cups. She turned around, holding both, and bit her lip.

"Cata's awake," Michaëlle said. She raised one mug. "I figured you had coconut milk in the fridge… that's how she takes it."

"Oh yeah, help yourself," Will said.

"A cup of coffee, half a cup of coconut milk and a teaspoon of sugar," Nico said approvingly.

He heard Will exchange greetings with Michaëlle on her way up. Nico looked over his shoulder to Will.

"A cup of coffee, half a cup of coconut milk and a teaspoon of sugar," he said nodding his head towards Micah.

"She _knows?"_ Will asked. "Good sign."

"They got in trouble at camp all the time for eating together," Francesca said.

"You lot shouldn't get into trouble at camp," Will said.

"Aren't you forgetting something?" Nico scoffed. Will grinned. The doctor's note they'd used at camp was framed and hanging above their bed.

He laced his arms around Nico's waist and settled his chin on Nico's shoulder. "How do I take my coffee, Nico?"

"We've been married eighteen years, make it yourself," Nico said. He craned his neck and kissed Will's nose. "Two creams, two sugar."

"We _are_ in love!" Will smiled.

"Ewe," Franca said.

* * *

Because Emilia woke up extremely early and started screaming (fun little habits), they took turns waking her up, changing her and finding something fun for her to do. Today it was Will's turn-

And the crib was empty.

All the bedroom doors were closed. Emilia didn't quite have the fine motor skills to tackle stairs yet, but Will still decided to go ahead and look downstairs before waking up Nico. That was when he saw the basement door, hanging just a tiny bit open, and heard some noise. He wasn't sure if he should be armed for this, but he went downstairs to check it out.

The floor was carpeted with toys and Legos and what seemed to be half of Daniel's wardrobe (?). The walls were plastered with pictures and paper crafts, but a wall they'd covered in blackboard paint was now completely covered in pictures. Thankfully, Emilia was there, adding loopy flowers and abstract rabbits. And there was Michaëlle, in a Camp t-shirt and rainbow striped pyjamas, her hair up in a hasty bun, passing chalk to Emilia and adding beautiful mandalas to the wall herself.

"Good morning," Will said, figuring he shouldn't spook her. Michaëlle still jumped. Emilia babbled something that was probably meant to be 'Daddy!' and bounced to her feet and ran his way. He scooped her up and blew a raspberry on her cheek, which made her laugh.

"Hi," Michaëlle said. "Good morning. Sorry, I was getting a drink of water and she was already awake."

"No worries," Will said. "Thanks for taking her. I just have to go…"

"I changed her too," Michaëlle said.

"Oh wow," Will said. "Thank you."

He put Emilia down and she took one brave step before hitting the ground again and crawling back to the wall. Will sat down with them.

"That's beautiful, Michaëlle," Will said. "I'd been warned you were an artist."

"Thanks," she smiled.

"Thanks again for taking care of Emy. Don't feel obliged."

"No, not at all," Michaëlle said. "I spent a year in foster care before coming to camp, I miss taking care of the other kids."

"Yeah?" Will asked. "I missed that when I left camp… drove Nico crazy telling him to remember to eat and pick up his stuff. Who's your counsellor in Cabin 11?"

"Joseph Mateba," Michaëlle said. "He's from New England."

"He's dating the Cabin 7 counsellor, isn't she?" Will recalled.

"Right," Michaëlle said. "He and Jordan are cute. How do you...?"

"Son of Apollo," Will said. "I went to give a talk on transitioning into medical school last semester. I keep up."

"Right," Michaëlle said. "Sorry, I forget. Cata being a daughter of Hecate and all... Did you hear about the latest raid on Cabin 7, last time the Hunters of Artemis swung by?"

"No," Will said reaching out and grabbing Emilia around the waist to plop her down on his knee. "Tell me."

And so Michaëlle did, and when they finally made their way upstairs Nico already had breakfast going and everybody was up and marathoning the Elf movies. Michaëlle carried Emy over to Nico and then to Franca, and perched on Cata's knee.

Will dallied in the kitchen.

"Step away from the plate of pancakes," Nico said.

"I wasn't going to steal one," Will lied.

"What was that about?" Nico asked, nodding his head towards the basement door. Will smiled.

"Cata did well," he said simply.

* * *

When Nico got up in the middle of the night, he crept downstairs to go check on the Christmas tree. Teresa sometimes tried to set up booby traps to catch Santa Claus.

The TV was glowing blue, which confused Nico for a second and quickened his step until he saw Cata and Michaëlle on the couch, cocooned in a thick layer of blankets. They must have fallen asleep and let the DVD run to its end. Micha slept with her mouth open and Cata's glasses were lopsided over her face.

Nico just turned the TV off, let them be, and went back to sleep. His Christmas present to them.

* * *

The doorbell rang.

"Who is that?" Daniel asked, mouth full of cereal. Milk trickled back into the bowl.

"Ewe," Tessa said.

"Mouth closed at the table," Will said. He was helping Emmy eat. "For that, you get to go check."

He came back holding a sunshine-yellow balloon.

"Where's Cata?" he asked.

"Who was there?" Nico asked, his fingers knotted into Tessa's hair as he wrestled her thick hair into braids.

"Nobody," Daniel said. "Cata!"

"Why are you even screaming this early?" Cata groaned, coming down the stairs. Her hair was still in its sleeping bun, but at least she was wearing jean capris, a white shirt and a black-and-white kimono kind of cardigan sort of… Nico didn't know much about Cata's clothes. Whatever, she was dressed which was good.

"Because people are ringing the doorbell super early for you, but it's not people," Daniel said.

"What," Cata said.

"Look, I'm tired, just take this balloon, I think it's here for you," Daniel said.

That's when Cata seemed to notice it and she smiled.

"Cata, what's that?" Will asked.

Tessa sighed. "Duh Dad. It's from her girlfriend."

"Oh shut up you," Cata said, taking the balloon from Daniel and bringing it back upstairs.

"You wouldn't tell me to shut up all the time if I wasn't right," Tessa shouted back at her.

"Settle down or you'll have bumps," Nico told her.

* * *

Nico hated snail mail, mostly because it was 70% bills, 6% Christmas or Birthday cards from distant Solace relatives he was still on the fence about twenty years into his marriage, 10% advertising for things he didn't want to spend money on or had already spent money on, and… yeah, another 10% bills for sure.

But lately it was worth going through because the other 4% were cards from Michaëlle who, as a daughter of Hermes, took mail very seriously and decorated each and every envelope beautifully. Maybe there would be paper airplanes zooming across the envelope, or rainbows darting from one corner to another, or mandalas inked onto the back… You never knew with Micah.

"She has to mail these every few days for there to be so many," Teresa said as she brought Cata's mail back to her. "Your correspondence can't possibly be maintaining a conversation."

"It's not," Cata said. "Sometimes it's literally just a knock-knock joke or a fortune from a cookie or a quarter she found in the woods."

"Aww," Franca fawned.

"What's the point?" Tessa said.

"There doesn't need to be a point, Tessa," Will said.

"Like when you bring flowers home for Papa even if he doesn't care that much about flowers and just puts them in a vase to die?" Teresa asked.

"Exactly like that," Nico said. "It just means someone you love is thinking about you because they love you."

"Well why else would someone who loves you be thinking about you," Teresa said. "It doesn't mean anything."

"Don't be so clinical," Cata said. "It doesn't all have to make sense."

The idea seemed to genuinely puzzle Teresa, but Cata smiled as she scanned through Michaëlle's letter.

* * *

When they dropped off Cata and Danny and Franca at Camp this year, they weren't even subtle. Someone called Micah as soon as they arrived at the borders, and Cata was trapped in a hug as soon as she reached the bottom of Half-Blood Hill. She kissed Micah right there and right then.

"Ewe," Emilia said.

"Yeah, you keep thinking that," Will said. "Keep Dad young, Emmy."

* * *

"I didn't think Mr D _actually_ sent letters to parents when campers misbehaved," Will said stunned.

"We got a letter about our demigod children misbehaving?" Nico said. "What are we supposed to do about that? They're at Camp. Should we be pulling out our resumes to show them how well _we_ did?"

Will grinned and kissed Nico's head before sitting down on his desk and opening the envelope.

"Which kid is it, let's start with that," Nico sighed.

"Catalina," Will said.

"That's promising," Nico said. "What did she do, turn a child of Ares into a pig? She'd been talking about it."

"She was caught out of bed with… ah, another camper. Ooh. Okay. Thanks M D, didn't need to know that much… Okay, long story short babe, Micah was there too and about five rules very near and dear to Chiron's heart ended up being shattered."

Nico took the letter.

"Even for the great god Dionysus, it seems shallow to specify that he's being incredibly detailed here as a revenge for all our sneaking around while 'Misters Wilbur and Nicholas were at camp themselves'," Nico said.

"It seems shallow to call me Wilbur," Will said. "Also hurtful in its inaccuracy."

"The most inaccurate thing here is that we didn't _need_ to sneak around," Nico said. "We basically had our own cabin."

"Yes, we should suggest that to Cata," Will said. "Definitely. You do that while I send her sexual health pamphlets and condom samples I can steal from the hospital, that should be adequate."

"Don't be petty Will."

"I'm not being petty, I'm being _informative."_

"William James Solace," Nico said.

"What," Will said. "Don't you think it's better for her to be informed and safe than...?"

"Oh, relax," Nico said. "I put a pack of condoms in her trunk before shipping her off to camp, she'll be fine."

"You did what?" Will asked.

"Read into the future, by the looks of it," Nico said. "Which makes the super weird look the lady at the pharmacy gave me for buying female condoms worth it. Our usual cashier thinks I'm having an affair, I think, she hasn't been quite so nice to me lately. Could you maybe clear things up with her next time you go pick up Emilia's meds?"

He was about to scrunch up the letter but then he looked over it again. "Think we should frame this and hang it over Cata's bed for when she comes back?"

"I definitely do," Will said.

* * *

"The water bill's doubled and Franca's going to need the shower after volleyball," Will said. "Wrap it up, okay Cata?"

Cata didn't answer him, but laughed at something that Michaëlle said over IM. Will sighed.

"The house is on fire Cata, if you don't come out right now you're going to burn," Teresa volunteered.

"Tessa," Will hissed.

"She isn't going to react anyways," Teresa shrugged.

"That's not… that's not usually the point," Will sighed. "Why don't you run downstairs and turn the water off?"

The bathroom door opened up a little. Cata stuck her head out. "Do you mind? Micah and I can barely hear each other."

* * *

Michaëlle came down as a surprise in February, for Cata's sweet sixteen. She sat on Cata's left, Franca was on the right. Mortal friends were also crowding the kitchen while Cata cut into her _tiramisu,_ icing smeared on her nose and the lense of her glasses thanks to Micah.

Cata was so happy that the tips of her dreadlocks were turning pink and gold, thankfully they were tucked into a bun and a bit harder to see. This entire day had everything Cata possibly needed to be happy. She and her mortal friends from robotics club and the theater group had gone skating on Frog Pond. When she'd come back, all of them with snowflakes in their hair, Michaëlle had been in the kitchen in a daisy-spotted skirt helping Will make hot chocolate. Catalina had been fed gnocci and her favourite cake out of Nico's arsenal of baked goods, all her friends were in love with Micah and Micah was in love with them all, and now they were going to go open presents and watch a bunch of movies in which things blew up or terrifying special effect make-up turned ordinary actors into horribly monsters. And from what Nico knew, she was getting a fancy new laptop for school and robotics and movie editing, a fancy Chinese kite that would be a lot of fun to both fly and magically manipulate at camp according to Michaëlle (who, for all they knew, had actually gone to China to get it), and some new tools her techie friends had pitched together to buy for her. This day was only going to get better. Also it was still snowing.

Conversation was lively, so lively that Emilia came to hide in the kitchen with her dads. She'd been a little mad not to have been warned that Micah was coming, but they'd both learned not to trust six year old children with secrets by now. An extra scoop of ice cream had brought Nico back in her good books. Will still had to work on it.

"I like Michaëlle," Emilia said.

"We like her too, baby girl," Will said.

"I'm glad she's my new sister," she said eating some cake.

Oh boy. This was going to be a hard one to explain. Nico and Will crossed gazes over her little blond head and Nico shrugged.

"Yeah, she's a good sister to have," he said, tucking Emilia's hair back. She was six years old. Let her dream.

* * *

"I'm so glad you came, but I wish you could stay," Cata said, holding Michaëlle against her.

"Me too," she said. "But you have school and if I don't hitch a ride with Argus now, who knows how I'll get back to camp."

"We could make it into an adventure," Cata smiled. She kissed Michaëlle. "You know, it's about time we had another good one…"

Michaëlle smiled against her lips. "We will when you come back. The second June comes along, just you wait. We'll fly kites and I'll show you how big the sunflowers are getting and you will not _believe_ what my cabin has planned for this summer."

"I don't think I would no," Cata said.

"Bring your own marshmallows to camp, okay?" Micah confided. "But shh. If you let word get around, I might have to break up with you."

"My lips are sealed, then," Cata said.

"Not to me I hope," Michaëlle said before kissing her again. By that point, Argus was honking rather loudly for Micah to come out. The daughter of Hermes smiled, squeezed Cata's hand, and ran out the door, hair swinging.

* * *

"Cata, isn't that the scarf Micah had on when she was here?" Will asked, ladling a spoonful of minestrone soup into a fourth bowl in preparation for the small army of children who would then come tearing in for supper.

"Yes," Teresa said.

"Tessa," Catalina said elbowing her. But she was smiling too. "Yes."

"You stole her clothes," Will said. "Nice. Best part of being in a relationship."

"Other than, you know, having someone always standing by your side and raising your kids with you or when you spend seventeen hours in a row operating on a baby with a brain tumour and folding laundry and making soup," Daniel said.

Nico held out his hand for a high-five.

"She's going to want it back," Teresa said.

"Nah," Daniel said. "It's a sacrifice you make."

"If I ever get a girlfriend or a boyfriend tell them that I'll dump them if they touch my stuff," Teresa said.

"We'll put up posters around school and camp," Cata said. "Don't you worry."

She grabbed a bowl and went back to the living room, where a Harry Potter marathon was making the day go by.

"You guys wouldn't think kleptomania was so cute if you knew about the drawer of stuff she's been accumulating," Francesca said, grabbing a bowl and heading out to the living room herself.

* * *

The front door burst open and Daniel ran inside.

"Cata?" he called. "Cata? Catalina!"

"Daniel, what's wrong?" Nico asked. He got up from his desk and opened the door to his office. Daniel met him there, breathless and pale.

"Danny?"

"Where's Cata?" he asked.

"She's helping Francesca with her garden," Nico said. They were doing peas and cucumbers and zucchinis today. "Danny, what's wrong?"

He took off before he even answered, crossing the house and sliding the porch door open, not even bothering to close it behind him. Nico followed him, making his way to the back door and looking out into the backyard. Francesca and Cata were kneeling in the dirt by the fence, near the vegetable patch that Franca had been tending since she was three. Danny was kneeling by her, holding her hands. Nico frowned, trying to make out what he was saying. Then Cata just _screamed._

Nico pushed the door open and stepped outside, but her siblings had her. It was as if a puppeteer had snipped two strings, one between Cata's shoulder blades and another on her head. She just sagged against Franca, who helped her straighten herself up. Danny pushed himself back up difficultly, and then he gave Cata a hand. She took it, trembling, and let her brother and sister steer her back into the house.

Nico let them pass, but he took Daniel's arm to hold him back a second.

"What's wrong?" Nico asked. "Who…"

"Michaëlle," Danny said. Nico's stomach clenched. "She's gone. Antwan called me. She went into the city to help a half-blood who'd gotten lost, who was stuck in a psych ward. They say it was a _Mormolykeia,_ but it's hard to tell because Micah slashed her Pegasus' reins and let her go, so they don't know where she was attacked. Only that they found her in the Hudson."

" _Mormolykeia,"_ Nico said. He'd heart that name; the latest monster craze in New York City. Percy had warned him ages ago. "Underworld daemons. Attendants to…"

Hecate.

Oh no.

"Danny, go catch Emilia at the bus stop; take her and Tessa to… I don't care, anywhere for a few hours."

"But Cata-"

"Franca and I have got her," Nico said. "I need you to grab your little sisters- and I _know_ they're all your little sisters, but I also know that you know what I mean."

"Okay," Daniel said. "Okay."

He took a deep breath and wiped at his eyes. Nico heard Cata start to cry in the living room.

He hugged Danny quickly and then turned to the living room to… to…

He had no idea.

* * *

It was the first night they'd slept in their own bed, and that was only because Cata was in New York for the funeral rites. No need to sit at her bedside for when she woke up, or stay up all night in the living room watching old movies to pass the time tonight. Daniel and Franca had played rock-paper-scissors to figure out who would be going to New York with her- during the school year they tried to limit the amount of dissapearing Solace children to two. Danny had ultimately been the one to go, and he and Antwan were calling in frequently enough. Nico could only hope that the other children of Hecate would close ranks around her.

Nico hadn't thought he'd sleep much, but he must have dozed off for a few seconds because he woke up and Will's hand was knotted in the front of Nico's shirt in a death grip that Nico wouldn't even be able to begin untangling himself from.

In that particular second it felt okay, because he didn't want to.

* * *

"Eating is important," Francesca said. Nico wanted to tell her to stop, to leave her sister alone. For a child of the Underworld, it was incredibly how much light Franca had in her. How nurturing she could be. How untouched she was by all the death and destruction and darkness and nihilism that Nico had had to swallow when he was much younger than she was. It could also be exasperating.

"I'm not hungry Franca, thank you," Cata said quietly. She was dressed for school today, but she looked so clammy Nico had half a mind to keep her home.

"I put brown sugar in your oatmeal like you love it," Francesca said. "Brown sugar and apples- cut in chunks not slices, with cinnamon and…"

"For fuck's sake Franca, I said I'm not hungry," Cata snapped. She paled the second the words left her mouth. The outburst was so loud and so uncanny that not even Emilia said anything about hearing the word-she'd-recently-learned-was-bad.

"Franca, I'm so sorry," Cata whispered.

"I'm sorry I didn't listen," Franca said. "I'm sorry for… for everything, Cata. I really am."

And so Cata started crying into her breakfast and she didn't go back to school quite that day either.

* * *

Cata was laying down in the middle of the backyard. Will went out to check on her after an hour of this, and he lay down next to her. Then he saw something red floating in the sky- something strangely shaped, with red streamers billowing behind it… It was getting further and further away as it gained altitude, but Will recognised the shape of a phoenix.

"Is that your kite?" Will asked. "The Chinese kite you had hanging over your door?"

"I was saving it for this summer," Cata said. "But it's just April now. If we're not going to get to fly it together, then I don't want to fly it at all."

"Okay," Will said. He starred at the kite spiralling away with her.

"You know how they say that the more time you give it, the more space grief gives you to live?" Cata asked.

Had she been reading books on this?

"Yes," Will said.

"I feel claustrophobic right now," Cata said.

By the time she looked up from Will's chest, where his shirt was now soaked, the spot of red in the sky was gone.

* * *

"Cata, I'm not rushing you," Nico said. "You know that. But not eating isn't healthy and that's where the line is drawn."

Thirteen take-out menus were spread on the table in front of Cata.

"Pick anything," Nico said. "Absolutely anything. Even if it's not here, we can go drive to pick something up Cata."

"Did I tell you what our school play is this year, Papa?" Cata asked.

"No," Nico said navigating the change of subject cautiously.

"It's Romeo and Juliet," Cata said. "And I don't care if they aren't really in love or if Shakespeare is making fun of them. It's senseless."

"The violence?" Nico asked. "Absolutely."

"I'm not hungry."

* * *

"What are you working on?" Nico asked Cata. "It's late, _tresoro."_

"A video for the play," Cata said. "It won't be long."

She shut a tab and that's when Nico spotted the background on her Mac; a field full of sunflowers.

* * *

"Franca, what are you doing?" Catalina said.

"I'm calling a slumber party," she said. "Remember how Dads nearly made us stop sharing a room when you were eight because we had slumber parties too often?"

"Yeah," Cata said, still sounding unsure.

"Okay, well, I was really upset when they said that and I was crying pretty hard, and so we made a deal. You and I needed to stop calling sleepover and we could still do it in emergencies. So if you were really sick but not throwing up, if you and I hadn't seen each other in three days and at least two nights, or if you were sad and I was worried. And now I'm worried, so I'm calling slumber party. It's kind of too late to get _Little Princess_ or _Secret Garden_ started, but I think I have popcorn under my bed and I definitely can and will snuggle up with you too."

Cata relaxed against Francesca.

* * *

"I feel like a horrible father," Will said.

Nico turned onto his side, shifting the blankets and pillows and the entire structure of their bed as he did so. "What are you talking about?"

"I feel like a horrible father," Will repeated. "My daughter's grieving. That's my baby, that's the first baby I was in charge of taking care of. And she's hurting so badly, she's sleepless unless someone spends the night holding her, and she hasn't eaten right in two weeks and she doesn't like going outside or doing anything and I don't know what to tell her. Because if I lost you I would be losing myself exactly like she is, maybe worst, and I wouldn't know what to do. I wouldn't want to be told what to do, I'd just want to scream."

Nico pushed himself up and rested against Will's chest, his ear against the best place to hear Will's heart. He knew that spot by heart now. Mostly for himself. The steady _thump thump_ was the best thing Nico could ever time his breathing to.

"We can't protect our kids from everything," Nico said. "We can't… we can't always break the ice for them. They're demigods like we were. Like hundreds of other kids are. This is bigger than us."

"I know," Will said. "I just don't want it to be. I shouldn't have become a surgeon. It gave me such illusions about being able to fix anything."

Nico closed his eyes. _Thump thump. Thump thump._

"Will?"

"Nico."

"I'd be worst than Cata," Nico said quietly. "So I promise to you that if anything ever happens to you, I won't be a flight risk. I won't disassociate, I won't try anything crazy, I won't bargain with my father. I'll stay here. I'll do my best with our kids. I'll keep feeding them and watering the plants and I'll go through the paperwork. Because if I don't promise that to you, I don't know if I'd be strong enough to do it."

"You would. I trust you. But because I don't trust myself, I promise if something happens to you, I'm going to twice the dad I am now to make up for you," Will added quietly. "I promise that too, Nico. But I never want to go through what our baby's going through, Nico. I don't ever want to lose you."

"I know we've already made these promises, you know, when Cata came to us- but I need to say it again. I think... I'm used to us, Will. I think I started forgetting, because we've finally gotten a break and things are lining up and we have a good thing going on here. But I never want to lose you either," Nico said.

Nico buried his face against Will's chest. _Thump thump thump. Thump thump thump._

Will's fingers closed around Nico's wrist. Two of them pushed against the vein running towards his hands. A doctor reading a pulse.

 _Thump thump thump. Thump thump thump. Thump thump thump._

* * *

It took a month for the first smile to come back. Of course, Danny was behind it- he was nearly hyperventilating when he told Nico and Will the story of being called out for parking in a handicapped spot at the grocery store and unfastening his prosthetic leg to make a soccer mom scream. He tried to mention Cata's smile as if it wasn't a big deal, as if he'd expected it from the get-go. But they all knew. They were all hyperaware of it as they put the groceries away.

"Good thing I was wearing shorts," he said. "Would've gotten all tangled up if not."

Cata laughed again.

Nico and Will looked at each other.

It didn't mean much, but it meant at least _something_ was happening in there.


	16. lux industries

**Hi everyone! Merry Christmas, happy New Year's, how dare I dissapear for so long? Especially after bumming you guys the heck out over the last chapter? You'll have to excuse me, because I've recently switches schools which has required me to move to the other side of the country, which has been a lot of work. I've figured out how to make grilled-cheese sandwiches with a straightener, I'm getting the hang of doing groceries efficiently, I've already got an article due to publish at my university's newspaper, and my department has a beer-league fencing club that I am very excited to check out. So I get to write again! And hopefully you guys will enjoy this too!**

* * *

 **xvi : lux industries**

"I'm highly suspicious of this," Will said as they clapped.

"You're going to have to be more specific," Nico said.

"Our daughters graduate from Harvard after riding scholarships for four years," Will said. He sounded as if he was working through math homework with Emilia, going at it one step at a time. "Together they have two engineering degrees, a major in biomedicine, and minors in business, accounting and international relationships. And when asked what they want to do, they say time will tell. Oh, and the particular daughters I'm talking about aren't sweet Franca or bubbly Emi or artsy-fartsy and kind of loopy Cata. No, this is Teresa and Lucia who I have never heard spew any similar sentimental or abstract idioms in my entire life."

"Well of course that's bullshit and they have an exact plan in mind," Nico said. "But it's no use to wonder until they tell us. That's just _more_ worrying."

They stopped clapping and sat back down because some dean or director or professor had another speech to make.

* * *

"It's not much, but it works," Teresa said. They'd just seen the office the twins were now renting. Big windows, tilted drawing tables and miscellaneous used desks and chairs and bookshelves gathered from various thrift stores and possibly sneakily driving around the city the night before garbage day.

"It looks great," Will said, hand resting on Nico's hip. "It's just that… I don't think you've explained to us exactly what this business is going to do yet… And we're a bit afraid it's a cover for a meth lab."

"It's a little complicated," Lucia said.

"But we've invested a lot of time into constructing the legal framework and we're ready to start working," Teresa said.

"See, that still doesn't rule out your father's, sorry for saying this, very credibly fear," Nico said.

"I suppose the first thing you should know is that our mother sent us on a quest about, I don't know, five years ago because the country's biggest academic library had become demigod-unfriendly via a drakon who had moved in," Lucia said.

"Yes," Nico agreed. "That's very good to know. It would also have been good to know five years ago, but go on _tresoro._ "

"Anyways, to save you the details, the downside was that Teresa was slightly poisoned for a very short while and the good news is that after killing this drakon, we found out why it had been so vicious- it was protecting a treasure which, the drakon being dead, we then claimed," Lucia said. "Also Athena was trading favours for information about our birth dad which we needed to know to make sure that there wouldn't be some kind of custody battle over my adoption."

"I know there were a lot of things in that sentence that make you want to interrupt and ask questions, but don't," Nico said taking Will's hand.

"So we have this treasure," Teresa said. "And it became pretty clear pretty quickly that we wouldn't be needing it to pay for our tuitions because Harvard decided to do that for us- so then we started to brainstorm about what to do with a small fortune."

Will's eyes had glassed over. Even for the twins, this was a lot.

"And of course there were a lot of different options, but at the end of the day we thought that the most intelligent use of the money would be investing it," Teresa said.

"But not with a bank because that requires a lot of waiting and it's not intellectually stimulating or proactive," Lucia said.

"Heaven forbid," Will said. Nico elbowed him and Will just mouthed back ' _what kind of poison?'_

"So we realised that we needed to fix our own problem," Lucia said. "By creating a platform with which we could invest in research and inventions and technological developments that we find promising and interesting."

"Okay," Will said. "So you're going to be Dragon's Den."

"Yes, but as a corporate premise, not a cheap quasi-reality show," Teresa said. "And in a more empowering fashion for original inventors and designers. Of course, developing our own technology would be the first step to establish some credential and basics…"

"We were thinking on focusing on the patent for the phantom-pain combating prosthetic that Teresa won that award for in our third year," Lucia said. "But that's a different issue, really, did you want to look at our documentation?"

"No," Nico said. "We will take your word on... everything."

"You've given this a lot of thought," Will said.

"We have," Teresa said. "We separated our focuses of study to balance everything we would need to adequately judge a prototype."

"What kind of products are you looking for?" Nico asked. "There's quite a gap between biomedicine and then environmental technology…"

"We know," the twins said.

"We want everything," Lucia said. "We both feel that we will be unhappy unless we live stimulating and well-rounded lives, and we want to use our drakon money to empower others who have not been as fortunate as we were. And then, once we get up and running, we'll also be able to invest in demigod-friendly technology that isn't being developed elsewhere."

Nico was afraid to ask a question, for fear that a PowerPoint presentation may appear.

"One more thing," Will said. "Do your boyfriends know that you each moved in with them specifically to be able to rent an office on the side, or do they have any illusions that it's because you're solidifying a relationship?"

"Oh, they know," Lucia said.

"Oh good," Nico said. "I'm sure they loved hearing it."

* * *

"Your father and I were talking," Will said. That phrase still made Nico grin every time it heard it. Redudancy, he supposed. "We had some money set aside for you girls in the event that you wanted to go to university."

"Even for me?" Lucia asked. "I came in so late!"

"Yes, even for you," Will said. "Since that hasn't been touched yet, we were thinking that you two should be using it to invest in... What is it called, sorry?"

"Lux Industries?" Teresa asked. She pushed her hair back, revealing teardrop earrings Francesca had bought in India. "Really Dads?"

"Yes," Will said. He handed them the cheque. "Our contribution to your master plan."

Lucia took the cheque and Teresa leaned in. Her jaw dropped when she saw the numbers and she swore in Ancient Greek, looking up hurriedly.

"Oh my gods," Lucia said. "This... this..."

Nico wasn't sure which one of the twins jumped him and who Will was hugging, but he knew they were both bouncy and delighted, so hey. It didn't really matter.

* * *

The twins were both laughing on the Skype video, sitting on their office floor and sipping champagne. They were both dressed in black blazers and dress shoes and blouses with the top button popped. Lucia held a binder full of paper, sketches and nonsense up to the webcam.

"We got our first sale!" Tessa said.

"That's great, girls!" Nico said. "Is it the prosthetic? Danny's going to be so proud!"

"We all are!" Will said.

The two girls laughed some more, absolutely giddy. Nico circled back to the fridge and grabbed two beers, tossing one to Will. They didn't usually keep alcohol in the house, but they had a bunch left from a barbecue that weekend.

"And you know what?" Teresa said. "The buyers also expressed interest in a prototype for an environmentally friendly wheelchair battery we're playing around with."

"Wow, that's great," Will said. "So this is taking off?"

"Not yet," Lucia said. "But we're being watched now."

"We have a million things to do," Teresa smiled. "It's going to be great."

Nico raised his beer and the twins raised their champagne flutes to the webcam.

"Emilia, if you want a sip of beer you have a twenty second window to come ask!" Will asked.

* * *

A lunch date had suddenly gotten much more complicated.

"I didn't know we had to pass security to get into their office," Nico said.

"Lucia sounded busy on the phone," Will said. "I'm sure she just forgot to mention it."

"Oh good, and here I was thinking they'd increased security to avoid their parents," Nico said sarcastically.

The security guard piped up. "Are you Mrs. Solaces' fathers?"

"Yes," Will said. "You have our ID, but…"

The guard double checked. "Terribly sorry Sirs. You can step right in, sorry for the inconvenience. If you make your ways to the front desk, facing the elevators, Andrea will be able to buzz Mrs. and Mrs. Solace for you."

"Thank you," Will said taking his keys and wallet back. They frowned, but followed directions. Will was chatty and friendly with the secretary as Nico checked out the floorplan. The building had four floors, Nico wondered if they were all shiny glass and light wood and grey tiled floors like this one. They all seemed to mix laboratories, conference rooms, a workshop in a basement, offices up on the top floor…

The elevators dinged and Lucia stepped out, wearing a black pantsuit and death-defying heels. Sunglasses were perched on her forehead.

"Hello," she said opening up her arms for a hug.

"Hey Luce," Will said wrapping his arms around her in a hug. "This is a nice place you have…"

"Isn't it?" Lucia beamed. "So much less of a headache to have everything centralised since we moved… Andrea, has my Dad been chatting your ear off? Dear Gods, how many embarrassing baby stories do you know about Tessa how?"

"How do you know they're about Teresa?" Will said. "Don't think that just because you waltzed in late, I have no material on you."

"Speaking of your other half, where is she?" Nico asked.

Lucia checked her watch. "She's wrapping up a meeting with one of our biomed contacts. A bit of a mess, really. He tried ripping off one of our guys who has an easier way to test blood sugar, our legal team made a day of it, we might have to drop their file- she'll fill me in after lunch. We promised not to talk business during lunch, not to bore you two. You two barely come to New York anymore, where did you want to go for lunch?"

The phone at Lucia's waist started buzzing. She clucked her tongue, took it out and silenced the call.

"Sorry Dads," Lucia said. "Just going to text Mei to hold my calls for a few hours… nothing urgent is actually urgent around here, I swear to Zeus…"

"Hello," Tessa said wrapping an arm around Nico.

"Tessa, hello," Nico said. He was a bit overwhelmed. When had his daughters become… become…

Businesswomen? Tycoons? Investors? Nico wasn't sure.

"Sorry I'm late," Teresa said. She tossed a purse in Lucia's direction. "You forgot this upstairs, genius. I'm starving, where are we going out for lunch?"

"That's what I was asking Dads," Lucia said.

"You two know this area," Will said. "Show us your favourite place to go out to lunch. Where you take your clients…"

And so off they went, the girls chatting their ears off.

The restaurant was lovely and clean and modern and the chairs were comfortable as could be. Nico wanted some of these for the house.

"It's a really nice place you moved Lux Industries to," Will said.

"Thanks," Teresa said. "We love it. It's such a better location, we're so much closer to everything we need and easier to reach."

"When you'd told us about the move, you had never made it sound like it was so big," Nico said. "Like… Like the company had grown so much."

"Well, we've recently expanded from Biomedicine and Green Technology into Entertainment," Lucia said. "That's comparatively easier, we should have started with that, I don't know what we were thinking…"

"We don't want to oversell Lux Industries until we're really anchored," Teresa said. "Until we've really made this thing real."

"Honey," Will said. "Sweetheart. I think you _have_ made it."

The two girls beamed at their plates- which Nico thought was ridiculous because in all honesty, he was a bit freaked out at how much like Amazons they looked.

* * *

"Did you know our girls have 700K followers on Twitter," Will said.

"Each?" Nico asked.

"You bet," Will said. "And the account has… oh, wow…"

"Being featured in Time magazine probably helped," Nico said.

"And appearing on Ellen," Will said.

"You're still so excited about that."

"And with good reason, no?" Will said.

"Half of the views on that video are yours," Nico said.

"You bet your ass," Will said. "Which is lucky for Ellen, because I am still pissed about not having gotten a ticket to go see that.2

"Am I the only one a little scared at how close to world domination these girls are getting, inch by inch?" Nico asked.

"Yeah, but we raised them," Will said. "We changed Tessa's poopy diapers and fed Lucia cookie dough through her first heartbreak. They'll let us live."


	17. casual observers

**Hello sweethearts,**

 **Times are rough and I'm sorry and wishing the best to each and every one of you. I was going to write something else before this, to space apart the Twin chapters, but I figure we all need some simple and cute shit right now. Here you go, loves.**

* * *

 **xvii: casual observers**

"Thank you for everything," Antwan said.

"No problem," Will said. "I'm sure Daniel had already told you that our door's always open. Your leg should be better soon, let me know if you feel any numbness."

The son of Hermes cracked another smile before leaning back in his kitchen chair. His leg was immobilized in a homemade stilt, propped up on another chair, and slathered in a healing balm Will had mastered years ago. Nico soon had a plate full of food settled in front of him.

"I wouldn't have made it back to New York like that," Antwan said.

"That's for sure," Will said. "What were you doing so far from camp anyways?"

"Mama still lives in Jamaica," Antwan said. "She wasn't doing so well, so I went down to visit. We managed to pay for her medication in time so she should be fine, but long story short, my transfer didn't go as planned at the airport."

"Antwan?" Cata said, standing on the staircase. Antwan smiled brightly.

"Hey you," he said.

"Hey yourself," Cata said coming closer for a hug. "What are you doing here?"

"Mooching off your dads," Antwan said. "This is delicious, M. di Angelo."

"Thank you," Nico said. "Cata, I'll make you a plate."

"I'm off to the library," Cata said.

"Without breakfast?" Nico asked. Cata stretched out an arm and an apple zipped from the fruit basket to her outstretched palm.

"Satisfied?"

"No magic in the house," Will said. They all knew that rule had been broken too many times to count, but Will was allowed to dream. The kiss Cata planted on his cheek served as a condolence.

"Ciao Antwan," Catalina said.

"See ya," Antwan said. "By the way, Micah sends her love, she can't wait to see you again."

That made Cata smile brightly as she bounced off the door.

"Not really, but little white lies," Antwan said. "She'd have told me to say that if she'd have known I'd be dropping by."

Daniel snickered.

"Danny, you going to want some of this?" Nico asked.

"For sure," Daniel said, getting up and coming over to grab his plate.

"I heard someone moving around upstairs, which one of your sisters was that?" Nico asked.

"No idea," Daniel said. "Maybe I have a brother up there by now."

"Can you go check?" Nico asked. "If Emmy doesn't wake up soon, she's going to be late for her dance pictures…"

" _You."_

"Ah. It's Tessa," Daniel said.

"How do you..?"

Nico turned around to see Teresa in the staircase, standing still and starring at Antwan with distinctly and disturbingly fiery eyes.

"Hey," Antwan said, much more peacefully.

Teresa's jaw clenched.

"I didn't know we had guests," Teresa said evenly.

"Would you have changed out of your pyjamas if you'd known?" Antwan said. "Hello Kitty. I like it."

Nico was pretty sure Teresa was going to pop a tooth out of her gums if she bit down any harder. Still, she did. She turned to Will.

"Did I hear Cata leave without me?" Teresa asked.

"You just missed her, Tessa," Will said.

Teresa groaned. "She was supposed to give me a ride to the library."

"I can drop you on my way to the dance studio," Nico said. "That'll be in about an hour."

Teresa sighed.

"I have a spare Traveler's Coin," Antwan said. "Won't be needing it once I get better, I'll be able to get myself from Boston to New York in one go. Library can't be that far, even an amateur could make the trip."

"I don't need your help," Teresa said. She turned around and went back upstairs briskly.

Nico turned to look at Daniel.

"Yeah," Daniel said, loading a few pancakes on his plate. "Umm, they don't get along."

"Really," Nico said. "Couldn't tell. I've only seen her like that with the principal. How did that happen over the course of a single summer?"

"And what a summer it was," Daniel said. He took his plate and went back to the table.

* * *

"Hey man," Antwan said, grinning when he spotted Daniel, greeting him in a friendly, no-nonsense hug. From what Will could tell, he'd shot up about six inches since he'd been at the house- which was absolutely ridiculous, but then again so had Daniel. And Franca. And Teresa. And Emilia. Argh.

"Hola M. di Angelo, M. Solace," Antwan said.

"Hello Antwan," Will said. "Taking care of that leg?"

"Not at all, I'm a bit of an idiot," Antwan smiled. "But it's holding up anyways. Cata, doing some freaky shit with your hair again, good, good… Franca, look at you. Want a hand with your luggage, Tess?"

"It's Teresa and get away from me," Teresa said. "And stay there until August."

With that she kissed her parents goodbye and dragged her trunk to Cabin 6 herself.

"I offered," Antwan shrugged. "Franca, you?"

"I'll take a hand where I can get it," Francesca smiled. "Could you carry this plant for me?"

"I'd love to," Antwan smiled.

* * *

"You know what," Will heard Teresa crack in the living room. "Stop it. Stop pestering me. Stop disrupting my calculations. Stop playing with my notes. Stop laughing at my ideas and my work. I don't have time for that, I don't need to waste my energy on you and I don't know how to be any clearer about any of these things."

"Sorry Tess, chill..."

"My name is Teresa," she said. "And no, I will not _chill._ I do not like being laughed at. You only know my family now, but you don't know my blood. I have a mother who constantly challenges me to prove my worth and do better, and my biological father couldn't take me seriously enough to keep his ass out of prison for a baby's sake. So you know what, I'm not taking this from you. Back off. Don't touch my things, don't talk to me if you're just going to treat me like any other of your stupid jokes because I'm not."

Will ran away before he heard more.

* * *

"I know you don't like it but the guy's mom is dead and I won't let him spend Christmas alone," Daniel said. "He is literally going to come over for dinner, eat some food, play charades or whatever lame party game we pick and then go back to Camp. It's not even Christmas, Teresa, it's Christmas Eve. Deal with it."

"A little bit of warning would have been nice," Teresa spat back.

"Why, so we could have argued about this longer?" Daniel said.

"Teresa Camille Solace," Nico shouted from the kitchen. "Are you trying to ruin this house's reputation for hospitality? Because you people don't clean, so we don't have anything else to go on."

Teresa locked her jaw.

"No, Papa," she said. She mumbled a few other things, unfortunately in Persian so nobody knew what she was talking about as she stomped her way upstairs- a very deliberate signal to the entirety of the household and possibly the skunk under the back porch.

Daniel wandered back into the kitchen, scratching the back of his head.

"That sounded fun," Francesca said as she peeled a sweet potato.

"Don't," Daniel said. "I honestly don't get her. She's so… so…"

"Say it Daniel Lee Solace, I dare you!" Teresa shouted through the floor.

Daniel dragged his hands down his face, and then mimicked shooting himself at point blank for good measure.

"Look, children of Athena are to be feared, not understood," Nico said. "What I'd like to know is what in the world made her so irritated against him. Teresa's not irrational. I've seen her be vengeful before, but not for no reason."

"Children of Athena, children of Hermes… bit like oil and water," Francesca said. "They've been having cabin wars."

"For Hades' Sake," Nico huffed. "When will you people ever learn."

"What do you mean ' _you people'_?" Daniel asked.

"Demigods who are social, he means," Will said wandering in. "Did Teresa hear about our guest?"

"YOU KNEW TOO DAD?"

"I'll take that for a yes," Will said. "Well, he seemed perfectly pleasant to everyone else in the world."

"Thank you," Daniel sighed in relief. He ran a hand through his hair. "Look, Antwan's lonely, mostly. He's a good guy. He likes people, people like him, but he's just so lonely all the time. I remember what that's like, from before I had you guys. He's like a brother to me. When I'm around camp, he sticks to me, you know? The fact that Tessa's so… so… It pisses me off."

"Here's to hoping she won't catapult mashed potatoes over him over dinner," Will said. "Nico, what can I chop or peel or make without ruining?"

"Carrots are your signature Christmas Eve dinner job," Nico said. The entire concept of the Christmas Eve dinner revolved around the fact that back in the days (and years) of spending millions of dollars in diapers and swimming lessons and cute little outfits that kids outgrew in days, Will could make time and a half by working on Christmas day and so he did. They celebrated Christmas on Christmas Eve, which was much easier to get off, instead.

And so they worked in the kitchen until later in the day, long after Emilia's girl guides came back from singing at the catholic church and Cata came back from helping her school set up decorations for a Christmas lights competition. Once all of the kids were in the house, the next doorbell meant company. And there was Antwan, wearing a button-up that was surely the cleanest thing he owned based on the desolate state of his jeans and the ratty grey hoody he wore in lieu of a real coat. He held a basket of camp strawberries onto which he'd laid some wildflowers.

"Hello M. Solace," he said. "Sorry I'm late, I accidentally landed three blocks away."

"No problem," Will said. "These are nice, thanks Antwan. Let me take your jacket."

Teresa was lurking in the living room.

"I talked Chiron into sparing some strawberries," Antwan said. He was looking at Teresa now. "Thought they'd do some good here. Remembered how much you liked them, Tess."

"Teresa," she said.

"Figured they'd do good here. The year-rounders, well we're getting kind of sick of eating so many of them, what with the massive crop we've had this year… The children of Demeter are running out of space to store jam, it's crazy"

"The climatic conditions which made Delphi Farm's harvest so favorable also occurred in Mexico, Spain, South Korea and Japan- the other four top strawberry producing countries in the world, of which Mexico is the biggest supplier of produce to the Eastern Coast of the United States during Winter months," Teresa said coldly.

Daniel sighed.

"I'll bring you something Mexican next time then," Antwan said. "Where do they grow avocadoes?"

"Strawberries help to prevent cancer," Teresa said. But she sounded a little off balance.

"And avocados don't?" Antwan said. "That's disappointing, why the hell do vegans eat them all the time then?"

"Avocados are delicious," Teresa said. "And they contain more potassium than the average-sized banana. Daniel, take his coat and show him your room or something before he asks what the average size of the banana is."

"Sorry man," Antwan said. "I don't live with her. I don't know these things. Guess I'll do more research next time."

Teresa's nostrils flared when he said 'next time'.

Danny led Antwan away to show him a new hole in stairwell wall where a _dracanae_ 's tail had dented the drywall (not so fun).

"That was a pleasant exchange to watch," Lucia said brightly.

Teresa hissed something nasty-sounding in Persian to which Lucia only replied with a laugh.

"Whatever," she said brightly. "I want to hear about the Capture-the-Flag rankings, suck on your own."

* * *

"Morning sunshines," Antwan said.

"Good morning," Lucia smiled. "Had a safe trip from Camp?"

"Safe as always," Antwan said. "Only nearly died twice, but it's irie. Wouldn't miss Dan's graduation party for the world."

Lucia grinned and turned to the kitchen.

"And you Tess?" Antwan asked. "Did you sleep alright?"

"Fine," Teresa said. Lucia circled back with two cups of coffee and they muttered in Persian as they went up.

"I think I'll take you up on using your shower," Antwan said.

"You know where everything is," Will said. Antwan brought his dirty plate back to the kitchen before disappearing upstairs.

"Was that just me or did Tessa sound less frigid?" Nico asked.

"She had the prospect of caffeine to warm up to," Will said. He looked up from the newspaper, which they still had delivered because eight demigods reading up news online was just too much of a scent generator. "Wait a minute. You don't think…"

"No," Nico said. "That would be… crazy."

Francesca, good old happy and peaceful and informed Francesca, brought her dishes back from the living room where she and Emilia had been watching cartoons. She had tanned darker after her months of travel.

"Hey, Franca?" Will asked. "Notice anything strange about Antwan lately?"

Francesca shrugged. "He's gotten his hair cut and it's a lot less crazy now. He looks a lot more grown-up."

As if that wasn't scary enough for a son of Hermes.

"And he's been extra nice with Tessa" Francesca said. "Or maybe it's Lucia. I don't know, but they were friends at camp."

"Teresa and Antwan?" Will asked.

"Of course not," Francesca said. "Antwan and Luce. He's the one who introduced the twins to each other. Didn't you know? Antwan braced Tessa before she even met Lucia last summer that there was a girl at camp who looked exactly like her. He brought Lucia to camp after finding her in the city, thinking she was Tessa. He helped to convince Lucia to come live here. He told her that family came to you and family was taken to you as quickly as any other love; you had to try your best to grab what came your way."

Will and Nico exchanged glances. _Aha._

But this did not mean peace just yet, did it?

* * *

Will and Nico only agreed to let Daniel drive up to Camp for march break if he had another licensed driver in the car with him. Cata refusing to go up so soon after losing Micah, the responsibility fell on… Antwan. Who used one of his coins to teleport to Boston and spend a night before driving up with Daniel, Teresa and Francesca.

"I want to go too," Emilia said.

"Do you?" Antwan said. "Oh, don't worry girl, you're not missing much. They make us do homework there and put our pants on one leg at a time just like you do out here."

Emilia giggled. "And how do you put on a skirt then?"

"Fashionably," Antwan said, "with a cute pair of pumps or wedges."

Emilia laughed some more. Teresa sighed, but took Emilia's hands.

"See Emi? No need to be sad."

"That's right. Antwan knows things," he grinned.

Teresa shot him a look. Antwan held her gaze, usually intimidating and destructive, with a smile on his face. It drove her crazy.

* * *

"So Dad," Cata said. She cleared her throat on the phone. "Papa… I'm on speaker right?"

"What's going on?" Will said.

"I have news about… Teresa. And Lucia…"

"Oh crap," Nico said. "They only send _you_ in with news if it's bad."

"What happened?" Will said. "Is everyone alright?"

"Daniel's missing a leg," Cata said.

"Another or still the right one?"

"Yes, I just thought I'd prep you with some bad news you already know. See, the twins are actually on a quest."

" _What?"_ Will said.

"Chiron said that you would consider this a minor one," Cata said.

"Oh the things I'm considering telling Chiron…" Nico said under his breath. "Where are they and why?"

"They're with a party of ten demigods, bringing an artefact back to the legion," Cata said. "The rest of us O So Common Folks don't know what it is, just that we're not supposed to have it and tensions are high and the Legion may or may not be preparing to march to us and get it back."

"Right, and why do they need both of our twins to do this?" Nico asked.

"If I knew I would be on the quest too," Cata said.

"Why can't your sisters tell us themselves?" Will said. "It's uncool for demigods to have actual parents to contact now?"

"They left in a hurry, I don't know," Cata said. "Don't shoot the messenger."

"Right," Will said. "Sorry Cata. Okay, so who else is with them? Anybody we know?"

"No," Cata said. "A son of Zeus to lead the whole pow-wow, a child of Aphrodite to negotiate with the Romans once they get there… Oh, Antwan."

"Antwan is there?" Nico asked. He snickered. "And Teresa went anyways?"

"Don't laugh," Will said. "People learn to get along on quests."

"And they fall in love during wars," Nico said.

"Stop making bedroom eyes, I'm right here," Cata said. "I'll tell the twins to call you when they get back. Gotta go, Maggie Jackson wants the phone too."

Cata cut the connection.

Will turned to Nico. "Ten dollars says that Antwan doesn't get murdered cross-country."

"Ten dollars says he will," Nico said. "But he'll _like it."_

"You're twisted," Will said.

"You've known this for ages, it's too late to ride on that excuse," Nico said. "And in case you hadn't noticed, our daughter's a bit of a hard ass."

Will snickered. "Understatement."

"Fine," Nico said. "Twenty?"

"Twenty it is," Will said.

* * *

They didn't hear much about the quest after that. Lucia did indeed call home to tell them it had gone well. 'Gone well' was a stupid thing to say. Lucia was actually calling from the infirmary, but since she'd been carried back to Camp before bleeding out to death and had only run into pre-calculated risks, she was fine. When asked about her sister she maintained her answer and when asked about Antwan, her demeanor was absolutely stoic.

"Twenty dollars, then," Nico said.

They were still rather anxious to pick up the kids at the end of August. Antwan was helping Emilia with her suitcase. It made Nico panic a little that she was now armed with a bow and a quiver full of glittering arrows, like any other demigod.

"Bye Emmi," Antwan said. "Keep practicing that shot, right? We'll show those Apollo kids all about hard work next summer when we hand them their pretty little asses- no offence Mr So. Stay sharp, Luce. Don't overdo it and blow up your stitches, it's like Chiron said, you can't do that an infinite amount of times."

"I'll be fine," Lucia smiled, giving Antwan a hug.

"I mean it," Antwan said. "I did not carry you past those damn safety borders to have you die of an infection or something absolutely mortal."

Nico and Will caught each other's eyes. Ah. This was new information.

"I'm not dying anytime soon," Lucia promised.

Antwan smiled one more time, said 'we'll see, we'll see' when Nico invited him over for Thanksgiving in advance, and headed down Half-Blood Hill.

"Goodbye Antwan," Teresa said abruptly.

Antwan looked around, shocked. He smiled for a second at Teresa.

"Goodbye, Tess."

A heartbeat passed.

"Teresa," she said. She added quickly. "You're closer."

"I know," Antwan said, turning away again.

* * *

He came by the house when Daniel flew in from London for a visit. It wasn't out of the ordinary, but the kids all stayed up too late, roasting marshmallows and sausages over the stove top and drowning cups of hot cocoa while playing cards and yelling at each other about building houses and roads and exchanging five sheep for a piece of lumber. Will insisted that he should spend the night and set up blankets and pillows in the living room.

"This is comfy," Antwan said unzipping his hoody and wiggling in between the sheets. "Thanks, M. So."

"No problem, Antwan," Will said. "Don't be shy if you need anything, we're just upstairs. Danny should be coming down to take the other couch in a second."

As he turned around to go upstairs and hit the hay inside, he spotted Teresa leaning against the hallway wall and chewing on the knuckler of her pinkie finger which was, as far as he'd ever noticed, Teresa's only nervous habit. She was wearing her sleep shorts and a thick black cardigan.

"You okay baby girl?" Will asked. Teresa nodded, not taking her pinkie out of her mouth.

"What are you downstairs for?" Will asked.

Teresa looked up. "Yes."

Teresa had high standards for lying, she never messed up like this.

"Pardon?"

"I want a glass of water," Teresa said.

"Are you sure?" Will asked.

"Of course I'm sure," Tessa said. "Goodnight Dad."

She went to the kitchen, mechanically took a glass down from the cupboards, filled it and took a few sips. Will paused at the top of the staircase and heard her dump the water in the sink and drop the glass in with. He thought he heard voices downstairs once he was in bed, but nothing interesting enough to keep him up.

The next morning was more than interesting. Tessa was up remarkably early, and way before Lucia- which was unusual. She even came downstairs dressed- jean shorts, black sweater, hair swiped out of her face.

"Good morning," she said.

"Hey, you're up early," Will said. "It's not every day I get to see you before work, Tessie."

Daniel grunted a hello, shoveling cereal into his mouth and Francesca held out her hand for Teresa to squeeze. Antwan stepped out of the kitchen, having brought his dishes back, and froze.

"Good morning," he said politely.

"Hello," she said just as courteously. "Did… Did we show you the swing we put in the backyard yet?"

"No," Antwan said. "It starts getting dark pretty early in the fall, I guess."

Teresa nodded. "Come."

She held out her hand. Antwan took it and Teresa pulled him outside without letting go, not even to close the screen door behind them.

When Teresa had been young, she'd been tossed from doctor to doctor. Her teachers were sure she was on the Asperger spectrum. That wasn't quite the case; what they had discovered was that Teresa was prone to sensory overload. It came with ADHD as a whole, but Annabeth had later told them it was quite common for children of Athena, who spent so much time doing so many things in their heads that extra loud sounds, extra bright lights, obnoxious fabrics or pungent smells were too much. If Teresa was irritable, it was because she was juggling too many sensations or stimulants. If she didn't like to be touched, it was because she was feeling too much too strongly on her own. If Teresa complained about others being noisy, it was because every decibel got under her skin and tugged. So when Teresa took a hand, when she shared her space and offered up her skin and pulled someone and their noise closer, it meant something.

Francesca squealed so hard, she covered her own mouth self-consciously.

"Oh my gods," she said. "Oh my gods, oh my gods this actually happened. This actually happened this actually happened. Wait until Cabin 10 hears!"

"So how…" Will cocked his head. "How _did_ he do it? How did he finally get to her?"

"God knows," Daniel said, tipping the coffee pot into his mug.

"And we never will," Nico said bringing his mug to his lips.

Lucia came downstairs, wearing jeans and a peasant blouse. She looked outside quickly and then poured herself a cup of coffee.

"Oh, so you... you've got no comments?" Daniel asked.

Lucia shrugged, a smile tugging at her lips. "Just because she needed to make him work for it before she was sure didn't mean she ever doubted him."

"I don't get _her_ either, FYI," Daniel said nodding towards Lucia. "And we're going to have to make more coffee, cause it's gonna be hell of a day if this is what we wake up to."


	18. control

**xvii: control**

Will put down the dishes he was washing the second he heard the crying.

"Girls," he called out the back door. "Girls, what's wrong?"

Cata was guiding (though 'pushing' may be the better word) Francesca back to her house. She was wearing her rain boots and a grey dress with three buttons at the top, part of the Aunt Hazel, With Love Couture collection.

"Franca, what's the matter," Will said crouching down and holding out his arms. Francesca was holding her hands open, wilted flower petals in her palms.

"It died," Franca said. "My garden died."

"Oh, sweetie…" Will said. He gathered the tearful toddler in his arms.

"Not all of it," Cata said, probably trying to be helpful. "The basi-basa-basi-"

"The basilic?" Will offered.

"Yeah," Cata said. She patted her sister on the back. "Not the basilica."

"I touched it," Franca said. "I touched it and it died."

Will bit his lip. What day of the month was it? Past the Autumn solstice?

"Oh, sweetie," Will said. "It's too late in the year to garden. Did Papa and I forget to tell you?"

Franca just kept crying, closing her little fingers around the flower petals. Will cussed internally.

Persephone was back in the Underworld by now. Winter was coming.

"Here," Will said kissing her cheek. "Why don't we go colour in the playroom? We can draw all the flowers like they're pretty again, Francesca. Cata, would you like to come help?"

He got up, propping Francesca on his hip, and closed the door behind Cata.

* * *

Francesca looked absolutely adorable. Pigtails only vaguely contained her curls, and she wore a blue dress embroidered with pink flowers and clovers over a white t-shirt. She wore teeny tiny Mary Janes and looked up at Miss Gina and at Nico expectantly.

"I'm not sure I understand what you're suggesting," Nico said. "That a first grader somehow sabotaged all the bean sprouts she and her classmates have been trying to grow? I mean, this sounds a little improbable. I assure you that Francesca is _loving_ this science unit. She tells us every day if she got to water her bean or if it grew…"

He was working the mist _hard._

"I know, I've seen her care for her bean every day," Miss Gina said. "But the other children did say they saw Francesca…"

Children saw through the mist like a knife could slice through butter. Damn.

"That is strange," Nico said. Now he just had to eject them from the situation altogether. "Well, Francesca and I will talk about it at home and I'll see what I can learn, but I don't know how she could have _scorched_ those beans…"

"Neither do I," Miss Gina said. Nico felt bad about manipulating her, she was a pretty cool teacher. Cata had loved her. "I just thought I should mention it to you, should Francesca bring it up…"

"Oh, absolutely," Nico said. "I completely understand. Thank you."

* * *

If there was one thing Francesca hadn't been expecting from this, it was for Catalina to be dropped off at karate class and for her to go get ice cream with Papa. They sat at a picnic table near the ice cream truck and Papa even let her get a cone that was dipped in chocolate.

"You know Franca," Papa said, using his spoon to make his ice cream melt faster. "There are some really special people in the world."

Franca nodded. "Jonnathan Parker can touch his nose with his tongue."

"Cata can do that too," Nico acknowledged. "It's pretty cool."

"And a little scary."

"And a little scary. But some people can do even more special things. You know how Daddy can heat up your blankets with his fingers on Winter nights? And how Papa can go to work in LA and come back to tuck you in without taking the plane?"

"Uh-huh," Franca said. "Shh."

"Shh," Nico agreed. "Well, you're special like that too, Franca. There are days when you can touch plants and make them grow extra-big. When their flowers can be extra colourful and their fruit can be extra yummy. But there are other days when you take those things away from them. Special people like us need to be careful, to make sure we don't accidentally hurt others or do bad things. You need to try not to touch flowers and vegetables and fruits when it's cold outside, alright?"

"Alright," Francesca said. She let a piece of chocolate melt in her mouth. "Papa?"

"Yes, _tresoro?"_

"Shh," she said.

"Yes," Nico agreed. "Shh."

* * *

Francesca stood at her windowsill, chin propped up on her hands. She was looking at the three neat cups of African violets, ribbons still wrapped around the mugs in their birthday wrapping.

"Francesca," Papa said leaning in the doorframe, carrying baby Emilia in his arms. "Francesca, don't touch _tresoro."_

"I know," Francesca said. "Not until March 21st."

The spring equinox, which felt even better to Franca than her real birthday.

Except Papa didn't make cake that day, and he made the best strawberry shortcake of Franca's life today.

Those violets lasted a week before Franca accidentally grazed them while rushing to get ready one morning.

* * *

Francesca laid down, blades of grass tickling her cheek. The smell of dirt was right up in her nose, filling her lungs and soothing her mind.

"Hey Franca," Dad said. He knelt in the grass next to Francesca and put a plate and a mug down. "Spinach tomato tortellini soup- your father's, not mine. And then Daniel boiled water for tea, and this is Jasmine for you."

"Thanks," Francesca said. She closed her fingers around a fistful of grass.

"Eat," Will laughed. "Even if you want to run through the hills now that the sound of music is filling the air."

"I feel like I can breathe, Dad," Franca said. "Like... Not as if someone is holding my head underwater, because I can still breathe and walk around and move. But like... You know when you're sick but all the sick is all in your head, behind your forehead, and it's pulsing so hard you barely feel as if you're still in your body?"

"Yeah," Will smiled.

"Yeah, that's the other half of my life," Francesca said, closing her eyes and inhaling again.

* * *

Emilia wriggled in her seat, but was mostly content with the first-day-of-school celebratory pizza and managed to pay attention to Franca's rambling, to which Proud Big Siblings Danny and Cata were entertained by, and to which curious Tessa was entranced by. Not being in high school at that exact moment hit her like the biggest injustice in the world.

"It was great," Franca said. "And the play they're putting on in theater this year is _Romeo and Juliet_ and Cata said that so many actors graduated last year that I might get lucky if I audition even if I'm a freshman. Elections for student council are next week, and everyone says I should sign on because I was good at it in middle school which is good because I really want to- and they organise dances and stuff which we _never_ got to do last year so it'll be awesome! Oh, and the environment club is recruiting because they need all the help they can get to start this community vegetable garden behind the school. And there's a really cool-"

"You're going to be busy," Will said with a laugh.

"That's okay," Francesca said defensively. She was wearing a floral headband that kept her princess curls thrown back.

"Of course it is," Nico said. "Just don't forget, soon you'll actually have schoolwork to do on top of that."

"Oh, I know," Francesca said taking a bite of pizza. With her mouth full, "I'll manage."

"Even when Winter comes?" Will risked venturing. Francesca swallowed, as if a bowling ball was making its way down her throat.

"Yes, even when Winter comes," Francesca said defensively.

* * *

"Thank you," Francesca said. She tried not to sound miserable as she watched Catalina water the plants lining Franca's window and desk for her. "I'm sorry, I know I should be okay I know I should be doing it but…"

"We magical girls have to stick together," Cata said. "I don't care what the calendar said. If you think your Winter Blues have come early this year, I will water every plant in Boston for you."

Francesca tried to offer her a smile, Cata kissed the top of her head and wrapped her in a hug.

"Why do you think it came early?" Catalina asked.

"I don't know," Francesca said. She definitely sounded miserable that time. "I don't know, but I feel so tired and weak and sad and nauseous for no reason, so I know it's really there early…"

"I know, Franca," Catalina said. "I know, you don't need to defend yourself to me. I believe you. You're valid."

"I know," Franca said. "I know because you're an amazing sister, I'm sorry. I just… I wish it wasn't like this. I wish I could… manage it, better."

"Maybe your summer powers wouldn't be as strong if you had them all year," Cata suggested. As she spoke her eyes were randomly shifting colours- one blue and one green like an alleycat, then they were amber, next up was the lilac that Francesca liked best... Not for the first time, Francesca wondered what it would be like to be a daughter of Hecate too. Or a daughter of Athena, or Apollo, or anybody...

"Maybe," Franca said.

* * *

That got her thinking. If she had summer powers, because her mother only spent half the year tending to the flora of the world, where did that leave Winter? Persephone didn't become mortal the other half of the year…

Franca sat up in bed, curls piled high in a bun, and propped a flashlight between her cheek and shoulder. She stretched out one hand into the circle of light, making shadow puppets like when she was a little girl.

The children of Persephone at Camp Half-Blood tended to stay away from the children of Hades and the children of Demeter alike, it was just too easy to get absorbed in their drama. There'd been lots of drama when children of Persephone started being claimed at camp, about their cabin being amalgamated. But they weren't the same. And she hadn't seen Dad use his powers often, a half-blood that powerful tended to lay low when his scent would also attract monsters to his six children. But she had once.

Francesca flicked her free hand's wrist. The gesture seemed a little theatrical and silly, but the shadow puppet immediately disappeared. She gasped, checked quickly to make sure that Cata was still asleep, and turned back to the big circle of yellowish light on the wall. She clenched her hand, and the shadow returned, this time floating like spilled milk in the circle of light.

Francesca bit her lip and smiled. There we go. Winter powers.

* * *

Franca was torn when the seasons changed. She could help Papa cook again without the food tasting funny and sour and expired. But she couldn't shadow-travel to the bathroom to beat Cata to the shower anymore (which was a hilarious trick that continued to baffle her sister). She couldn't hide from Emilia by folding herself into a shadow when they played hide-and-seek. When she tripped, her shadow didn't catch her before she hit the floor.

Franca got home from school and collapsed on the couch, as exhausted as she would have been on the first day of Autumn usually. Was there no winning?

* * *

"Sweetie, I've been to med school," Will said. "I did my entire high school online in Chiron's office. I'm not saying that I'm innocent in the all-nighter department, but you're making yourself sick right now, not smarter. Sleeping is just as important as rereading lab reports to succeed in school."

Franca locked her jaw and kept typing furiously, not looking away.

"I am the one thing in life I can control," she said. "And so I will not slip."

"One night of sleep won't ruin your grades," Will said.

"Thanks Dad," Franca said. "But you're kind of distracting me right now. I'll go to bed as soon as I can."

Will stuck his hands in the pockets of his hoody.

"Okay, baby girl," Will said. "Just… Okay."

* * *

Franca had had a good day.

She had left the house wearing her best pair of jeans, a clean black shirt, and her favourite kimono. Her hair fell just right. She managed to peacefully assign a new girl to the top of the pyramid during cheer without causing a riot and aced a presentation on _1984_ before lunch, which she spent pitching a Model UN trip to Principal Reekie to obtain the proper funding.

She managed to down half an egg sandwich and call to check on Malinda, who had mono, as she crossed the school to go confirm with the drama teacher that they had found the missing costumes in time for the rehearsal that night.

After that, she sat through algebra and biology (where Mrs. Kawabata handed in last week's tests- where she'd managed a solid 91%), handed in a chemistry project, ate the other half of her sandwich before going to rehearsals and nailing a scene with tricky staging.

She, Daniel and Cata (all theater kids- long story) drove back home and their arrival timed perfectly with Papa taking a lasagna out of the oven. Franca wasn't on dishes that night and so she did all her homework in the living room and helped Emilia slug through some math before watching a few episodes of Friends with the entire family.

She finally got upstairs, and crumpled on her bed.

She reached over to her nightstand and twisted the lamp to more easily wave her hand over the lightbulb. Her shadow didn't appear on the wall.

"Still?" Francesca said. " _Still?"_

Yeah. Still.

"How is it," Franca asked nobody in particular, "That I can have my entire life and the lives of several other people together, that I can keep several teams and clubs on track and manage to maintain hell of an average, but you still won't show up? It's Winter. You have to give me something."

This didn't bring the shadow back either.

* * *

This was a minor annoyance until the day it wasn't.

This was a rare event. Emilia's dance class had been cancelled since her teacher had fallen ill. The school theater troupe was taking a week off between last week's performances and next week, when rehearsals began again to prepare them for a state festival. Teresa was suspended and therefore at home, and Lucia had come home to keep her company instead of going to debate club.

In short, all six Solace children were at home at the exact same time. It happened often enough, but they'd all been home a very long time by now, which didn't give their collective scent a chance to dissipate. Hence (most likely), the hellhounds that had burst through the front door, the wall next to the front door, and the living room windows.

Oh, yes.

Emilia rushed downstairs with her whip, on the heels of both twins who were both who-knows how heavily armed (they were at least showing swords). Catalina's hands lit up with raspberry blue flames and Daniel's javelin sprang from his favourite homework pen. Francesca wielded a sword.

Tessa was by far the most obvious strategist. Aside from her inborn talent, she knew all their strengths and weaknesses and how to organise them. They could argue for hours over who'd put the carton back in the fridge after finishing the milk, but now they hovered around each other like planets in orbit.

Until Emilia was thrown back and she landed on her ankle.

"Emilia!" Catalina cried.

"Stay focused, we have more company!" Lucia shouted over the hellhound's bark.

"Jesus, _where_ are they coming from?"

"I've got her!" Francesca said.

She was always the first one to duck out of a fight when things like this happened. Daniel was strong and athletic. Cata could spit out fireballs. The twins could outsmart the U.S. Military should the country get on their bad side one day. Francesca? Francesca wasn't a fighter.

She rushed to Emilia's side and threw her sister's arm over her shoulder.

"Where are we going?" Emilia asked.

"Mrs. Walter's," Francesca said. That was next door. They should be able to slip away, tell Mrs. Walter to call 911 because someone had broken into the house- something like that. Catalina could fix whatever lie Franca came up with thanks to the mist later on. It wasn't her best idea, but she needed to get Emilia away.

Then one of the hellhounds pawed Daniel and he crumpled against the ground. Worst, Francesca could tell by the bulge of his pant's leg that the prosthetic had become loose.

"Danny!" Emilia cried. It was all instinct, but it drew attention to them.

"No!" Lucia said pouncing on a hellhound, grabbing fistfuls of fur, and hauling herself atop the beast. She drove her dagger in and fell to the ground as her monstrous ride shattered into golden dust.

She landed perfectly, by far the strongest fighter among them, and caught another beast by swinging her sword. That still didn't stop the beasts from coming to Daniel while the remaining sisters were busy. That didn't-

"No!" Francesca cried. She could see the headlines, hear what Chiron would tell the campers tomorrow morning when he got the news, think of what the story would be. _Boy dead, surrounded by fighting sisters._ Except Francesca. Francesca wasn't fighting. Francesca could fight very little. She had no useful skill, no applicable strength or powerful card to play here.

No. That wasn't going to be how her one and only brother would die. They all would, one day. But not today.

"Shadow, come back!" Francesca shouted. She knew she sounded like a lunatic to Emilia. She settled Emilia down and raised her sword above her head.

"I'm not the one who ate the pomegranate seeds! I never agreed to any bargains! You don't get to half me! Come to me _now!"_

She threw her sword down into the hardwood floor. She exhaled deeply, and all the air in her body left her at once. The entire world went black for a second, though Francesca could still see red or blue or green streaks slide across her eyes like light bouncing off an oil spill. When the darkness passed, the beasts were gone. The main floor looked like a desert of golden sand. All of her siblings were kneeling around her.

"Francesca?" Cata asked shakily. "Francesca did you..?"

"I did it," Franca said. "I was in control."

She promptly passed out, but her point was made.

* * *

The door opened again and they all looked up and turned in a half second, like hyperactive meerkats. Dad looked at them long and hard and closed the door behind him. He was still wearing his scrubs from work- thankfully not bloody or anything. Papa was wearing his conference clothes- nice jeans and even a blazer. They both looked rattled.

"Other than a few patrol cars spending the night in front, we're okay. They're chalking it up to a hate crime for now," Dad said. He opened his arms and Emilia, Lucia, and Franca quickly huddled in.

"Smart," Cata said. "On account of all the gay and brownish people living here."

"Thank you, Cata," Nico said. Still, a ruffle of her hair became a gentle and repetitive brush. He slung an arm around Daniel. Tessa propped her cheek against his shoulder.

"So what happened here? Exactly?" Dad said. "Not that you need to make it exact, if it's really graphic and colourful…"

"Franca saved us," Tessa said, cutting to the chase.

"Franca?" Dad asked.

"Francesca, what happened?" Nico asked.

Franca closed her eyes. "I don't want to talk about it, you guys. I still need a few seconds to... process it. Can we have shawarmas for supper?"

"We can have ice cream for supper if that's what you guys want," Will said shakily. "Come on, whoever wants to come pick them up, hop into my car."

Daniel, never one to waste an opportunity, profited from the dads' vulnerable state to ask if he could drive. The twins and Emilia went with. Cata said she'd help clean, which took her three seconds and a sweep of her hand which Papa gave her trouble for.

"Really, Catalina? About two hours after this house is attacked?"

Cata smiled and curtsied, but Papa made her set the table anyways while he got some ricotta cookies out of the freezer, for dessert. He stalled for a second, looking over Franca.

" _Tresoro?"_

"Can we talk about it later, Papa?" she asked.

"Of course," he said before heading downstairs. Francesca readjusted the headband around her head, tucking a few stray curls back and smoothing out her skirt. Then she went outside and knelt by her garden.

The dads had made it for her before Franca even remembered it, when they'd moved into the house. A little picket fence made of Popsicle sticks circled around the berry patch. Painted rocks identified her various greens: tomatoes, cucumbers, pole beans that climbed up the fence, broccoli, beets, cabbages, spinach, parsley, onions, leaf lettuce, carrots, radishes, potatoes, zucchinis, rhubarb, strawberries, blueberries, watermelons... Tiny fairy houses that she'd put there as a child still stood tall. Morning glories that she'd planted when she was ten still blossomed every morning, in blue and pink and purple. The garden was Francesca's pride and joy; she had a deal with Antwan and the children of Hermes to come back and tend it in the summer. It was organised in crates and rows and it thrived. By the end of summer, the house's grocery bill was halved. Papa spent an entire day turning her tomatoes into pasta sauce, making zucchini loaves and pickles. Francesca spent the summer bringing bowls of greens and baskets of berries to the neighbours. Her garden was legendary.

"Mom," Francesca said out loud. She never had. She made her offerings at camp but other than being claimed, past a warm breeze and a glow around her on her second day of camp... She hadn't interacted with her mother ever. For sure Papa had talked to Persephone more.

"Mom, I'm here to say hello," Francesca said. "And I hope you're doing well. Because I'm the kind of person that hopes that even for immortal goddesses who don't really need to be doing anything, really. I don't know if I get that from you, because I don't know you and my dads won't tell me about you- they don't want to be biased, I think. And that's probably alright, even if it was so hard to be so many things at once that I was nothing at all. But I think I put it together now, in a way that I don't know if you have, or if it was obvious all along, or if I'm not supposed to. I have it in me to be everything I want and need. I don't need to try so hard, I don't need to go out of my way to hold the world together, because I have a whole world in me. Life and death, light and shadow, winter and summer, loss and hope. And I'm not going to forget that."

She picked a morning glory from the trellis, and then another. One went behind her ear, and she left the other in her garden over the carrots. She watched it dissapear into the earth.


	19. good

**So it's been a while and let me tell you why: college. But now I'm home for the summer! Working full time, but still home! This means I barely have to cook, when I go grocery shopping I can put fruits in the basket without seeing my life and bank account flash before my eyes, and if I die it won't take two weeks for the cops to find my corpse! Anywho, enjoy your chapter.**

* * *

 **xix: good**

This was one of those lucky days where Will had worked a nice, quiet night shift and had come home at 7:00 am, had kissed the girls goodbye, and had slept the day away while Nico worked only to rise from the dead at 2:00 PM hungry enough to "eat the whole freaking world". So Nico had driven him to McDonald's and now they were waiting in the school parking lot stuffing their faces with French fries and chicken nuggets and burgers -ridiculously amazing burgers, waiting for the bell to ring.

"We don't do this enough," Will said, kissing Nico's cheek.

"Sit in school parking lots eating food like some kind of stake out?" Nico said. "That's probably a good thing, hate to break it to you."

Will scoffed and stole the remainder of Nico's fries in one giant bite.

"We should probably destroy the evidence and throw out the trash before Danny and the girls get out," Will said.

"We've got fifteen minutes," Nico said. "Not that they won't smell it."

"Oops," Will shrugged. He didn't look all that sorry, blond hair sticking up and out awkwardly, button-up untucked and sleeves rolled awkwardly. Somehow the man had a five day break from work, so that was probably fine.

They still got out early to dispose of the evidence (the crime being eating McDonald's without your children), and lazily made their way back to join the clump of parents waiting for their kids. Will was trying to mimic a face he swore Tessa had made the other day when eating spinach.

"Gross, Tessa is way cuter than that," he said swatting her away.

Will rolled his eyes back to add to the effect.

"Stop being so gross, what is wrong with you-" Nico said trying to swat him away. But Will took his hand and kissed his cheek.

"Oh now you're gross- you're all prickly," Will said.

"Show me," Nico demanded. "Show me where it's written that I have to shave all the time."

"You don't, but this is awkward because it's not a beard but it's not smooth it's just gross," Will said.

"Well maybe tomorrow when I'm not dressing, feeding and otherwise organizing four small children I will shave," Nico said.

"I look forward to it," Will said.

Nico was about to reply something witty, but that was when he noticed the mom looking at him strangely. She was, of course, wearing activewear and a white baseball cap and her haircut gave Nico flashbacks to the days he used to work as a waiter and have a manager to fetch for picky customers. Will followed Nico's gaze and smiled at the woman.

"You're Susan, right?" Will asked. "Oliver's mom? I think our daughter, Francesca, is in his class. With Miss Naidu?"

"Yes," she said. "I thought I'd seen you at the open house."

"Yes, I was there," Will said, very friendly.

"Yes," the other woman said, her lips very puckered. "Yes, I just hadn't realized that… Francesca wasn't picked up by a babysitter."

Nico frowned and was about to say something nasty, but shut up. A few other parents turned around.

"Susan, honestly," one mum huffed.

Nico wanted to leave but he needed to wait five more minutes to leave _with_ the kids, assuming they walked fast.

"Well someone has to worry about these things," Susan huffed. "I mean, is it like this in front of your daughter?"

"Daughters," Nico cut in. "We have three beautiful, lovely little girls and one son who are being raised in a loving home. And yes, for our home to be loving that means that their two dads are going to hold hands and kiss in front of them. Maybe if you got laid you'd be able to take the stick our of your ass and understand, Susan. Now if you excuse me he tried being nice, I tried being bitchy, and I think we can all agree that we don't need to hear more from you today, Susan. Enjoy your Wednesday."

Will took his hand and whispered something encouraging that Nico didn't get because he was busy giving Susan his 'fuck off' stare. Susan opened her mouth and another mom Nico had seen at PTA meetings cut in.

"You heard him Susan. That's enough out of you."

Susan pretended to check her emails, but really she was playing Candy Crush. Now it was quiet and awkward and conversations were hushed, so Nico was even happier than usual when Tessa emerged with the other small waddling army of kindergarteners. She was more than happy for Will to scoop her up and prop her on his hip. Nico bet she had been fussy all day because she'd only seen him for a few minutes that morning. Cata forgot she was trying to be a cool eight year old as opposed to an uncool one and dropped her backpack, which Nico recovered, to tackle-hug Will. Danny had no such pretensions and he was happy to climb up on Nico's back for his piggy-back home. Nico was anxious to leave when the cool PTA mom, maybe Violet was her name, came by and put her hand on Will's shoulder.

"Don't listen to people like her," she said. "Everybody else knows your daughters are more than fine."

Will said his thank yous but Cata frowned.

"What's wrong?" she asked. "What happened?"

"Nothing you need to worry about," Will said. She didn't quite believe him and came to stand on Nico's feet and talk to him about science class until Franca came out, holding hands with a friend and wearing another daisy and dandelion crown, of course. Nico picked up Franca in a bear hug of her own, Will kissed her hair and they got their kids away from school and back home and agreed to order Chinese and watch a movie in their pajamas that night.

* * *

Will was reading in bed when Nico came in, after putting down Tessa who had a bad habit of getting up in the middle of the night to wander the house. Nico was not looking forwards to her being able to read the lock on the front door. Then they would be in for it.

But Will's eyes were glassy, like he was looking at the pages instead of reading.

"Will," Nico said crawling under the sheets. "Don't tell me you're seriously worried about that PTA mom."

"I'm not," Will said. "Not about her anyways, I think you handled that pretty well. I'm worried about her kid."

"What?"

"Her kid," Will said. "In Francesca's class. And all the other parents who didn't say anything but thought it, and all of their kids in all of our kids' classes. I mean, kids are mean to each other enough as it is. I don't want to be another tool in the arsenal they may have against our kids. I can shake pretty much anything off, but Danny's only ten, and Tessa's four, and that's a whole lot of mess for some little kids to understand. I know at Camp everything was fine, but I grew up in Mississippi first. It's just something I think about."

"I get that," Nico said. "I grew up raised by literal rocks and ghosts, though. And so I think that it's more important that those four kids have someone to come home and cry to when they've been picked on."

"You're right," Will said. He snuggled up against Nico. "You're so good for me. And for the kids. When did you get so smart?"

"Your last shift _was_ really long," Nico said again. He kissed Will's head. "Too long."

"Were you being sentimental?" Will asked, feigning shock.

"Fuck off," Nico said. "Stay on your side of the bed."

"I will do no such thing, I like it here."

"Jesus, Will."

"There ain't no room for him, here."

"My God," Nico scoffed. And so Will stayed on Nico's side like the annoying significant annoyance that he was.


	20. sunset

**Well folks, that disappearance was brought to you by moving away for the summer and training that kicked my ass for a full time job that has taken over my life and that I am in love with. This has actually been ready forever. My bad.**

 **Disclaimer: No own.**

* * *

 **xx: sunset**

Chiron flipped a coin and Will called 'heads'. He was right.

"Well then," Chiron said. "By the power invested in me by the state of New York, I declare you lawfully wedded husbands. Will, you may kiss your groom."

Will grinned and tugged on Nico's hands, pulling him forwards. It took about two seconds for his hands to be caught in Nico's hair. He could faintly hear clapping and cheering behind them, but mostly he was caught in Nico. When he was this close, Will could feel his heartbeat like the roar of an ocean in the back of his head. It washed over him completely- the only detail that may slip by was the way Nico's arms looped around his neck. The second Nico broke off the kiss, their foreheads leaned on one another. Will could see Nico's smile, which only made him smile more.

"That was in your top ten best ones," Will said.

"Stop," Nico said. "Don't make me dread a lifetime of ratings."

* * *

They'd chosen to get married in the evening. It had given Will more wiggle room, should he have been kept late at work. It also meant they got some killer pictures, with lights hung around them in strands and the setting sun and the stars outside. It also meant that a lot of wedding bullshit had been skipped throughout the day. Nico and Will had gotten to eat cereal in bed and bully each other into making more coffee that morning until about noon, when they had to get their butts in gear. From that moment on, Hazel had been on very strict Nico Anxiety Supervision Duty, and Percy had sent Will updates throughout the day. There had been a one hour window starting at about 3:00 when Nico was so nervous, he was randomly shadow-traveling to Arkansas. They'd talked him down before Nico left the country, so it was just a minor glitch that Will didn't even need to know about until they had been, with a little luck, happily married for fifty years and nothing could change.

Also it meant the wedding was going to be hell of a lot shorter, which was good since most in attendance were half-bloods or straight up gods. The Hunters of Artemis had showed up fully armed, vowing to defend the premise in honour of Bianca- which Will was pretty sure had made Nico cry a bit, not that he would ever mention it. Also they were skipping nearly immediately to the party.

Will was passing by with a flute of champagne when Nico grabbed his hand.

"There you are," he said. He smiled and kissed Nico's forehead.

"Put your drink down," Nico said.

"What?"

"You heard me," Nico said. Will, always a sucker for Nico's bossy voice, listened. Nico squeezed his hand and suddenly they weren't in New York anymore.

" _Nico di Angelo,"_ Will hissed. "You cannot shadow travel us away at will."

"That's Nico di Angelo Solace to you," Nico said. That tempered Will's outrage for a bit, but he bounced back rather efficiently.

"No," Will said. "No, that's not… we were at our wedding Nico."

"Exactly," Nico said. "They can't really do anything without us there, we won't miss shit."

"Where are we now?" Will asked.

"The dock at Camp Half-Blood," Nico said simply.

"That's _far_ Nico! _"_

"There's alcohol back there. That'll keep everyone busy."

"That's worrying logic," Will said.

"But it is _correct._ Look," Nico said fumbling with something in his pocket. The light caught on Nico's wedding band for a second which also shot a little burst of excitement and contentment in Will. He'd been wearing it on a chain around his neck until the day of. Nico finally extracted his phone and unraveled his earbuds.

"I know it's a tradition and that that's important to you, but I didn't want our first dance to be in front of a bunch of strangers," Nico said. He offered one of the earbuds to Will, who stared at it for a second before taking it and putting it into his ear. Nico started looking for a song.

"I know you're shy, and that this wedding is a lot for you," Will said. "I really do appreciate it, Nico…"

"You'll make it up to me later. Now shut up and dance with me," Nico said, selecting a song and putting the phone away.

Will did; he put one hand on the small of Nico's back and held the other, trying to figure out which song Nico had picked. Surprisingly, it sounded both rather modern and not about people screaming.

 _"When the earth was still flat  
And the clouds made of fire  
And mountains stretched up to the sky  
Sometimes higher  
Folks roamed the earth  
Like big rolling kegs  
They had two sets of arms  
They had two sets of legs  
They had two faces peering  
Out of one giant head  
So they could watch all around them  
As they talked while they read  
And they never knew nothing of love  
It was before the origin of love  
The origin of love…"_

Nico's head rested on Will's shoulder, which surprised Will a little bit. Although he supposed they were quite alone with the stars above their heads and the wooden dock creaking under their feet.

 _"And there were three sexes then  
One that looked like two men  
Glued up back to back  
Called the children of the sun  
And similar in shape and girth  
Were the children of the earth  
They looked like two girls  
Rolled up in one  
And the children of the moon  
Were like a fork shoved on a spoon  
They were part sun, part earth  
Part daughter, part son  
The origin of love."_

Will had heard this before. It sounded familiar.

 _"Now the gods grew quite scared  
Of our strength and defiance  
And Thor said  
'I'm gonna kill them all  
With my hammer  
Like I killed the giants.'  
But Zeus said, 'No  
You better let me  
Use my lightening, like scissors  
Like I cut the legs off the whales  
And dinosaurs into lizards.'  
Then he grabbed up some bolts  
And he let out a laugh  
Said, 'I'll split them right down the middle  
Gonna cut them right up in half.'  
And then storm clouds gathered above  
Into great balls of fire  
And then fire shot down  
From the sky in bolts  
Like shining blades  
Of a knife  
And it ripped  
Right through the flesh  
Of the children of the sun  
And the moon  
And the earth."_

Nico tenses up in Will's arms. Will held him even harder, kissing his ear -definite weak spot, to relax him.

 _"And some Indian god  
Sewed the wound up into a hole  
Pulled it round to our belly  
To remind us of the price we pay…"_

Nico's hand was squeezing Will's fingers now.

 _"And Osiris and the gods of the Nile  
Gathered up a big storm  
To blow a hurricane  
To scatter us away  
In a flood of wind and rain  
And a sea of tidal waves  
To wash us all away  
And if we don't behave  
They'll cut us down again  
And we'll be hopping round on one foot  
And looking through one eye…"_

There was a quiet, calm bit of guitar. That's when he realised that Nico was mouthing the words of the song against Will's shoulder. Not singing, just saying them.

 _"Last time I saw you  
We had just split in two  
You were looking at me  
I was looking at you…"_

Will buried his nose in Nico's hair and nudged for him to look up. He did. He didn't stop singing. __

_"You had a way so familiar  
But I could not recognize  
Cause you had blood on your face  
I had blood in my eyes  
But I could swear by your expression  
That the pain down in your soul  
Was the same as the one down in mine…"_

Nico's eyes were suddenly full -not teary, that was Will's job in this duo- but heavy and weary. __

_"That's the pain  
Cuts a straight line  
Down through the heart  
We called it love"_

Nico's heartbeat echoed behind Will's ears again. Even. Strong. Close.

 _"So we wrapped our arms around each other  
Trying to sew ourselves back together  
We were making love  
Making love  
It was a cold dark evening  
Such a long time ago  
When by the mighty hand of Jove  
It was the sad story  
How we became  
Lonely two-legged creatures  
It's the story of  
The origin of love  
That's the origin of love."_

Will pulled the earbud from his ear and pulled Nico to him and squeezed him.

"I love you," Nico said. "I love you so much Will, I wrote vows and I'm walking through all the steps of a wedding and I put a ring on your finger today but I don't even know how to say it properly, so you know how _much_ I love you…"

"We're two halves of a sun split in two," Will said. "You don't have to tell me anything. I know."


	21. bake sale

**Wow, it's been a while. Oops.**

 **ALSO I made an oops last chapter and forgot to disclaim that the lyrics I used were from _Hedwig and the Angry Inch,_ this killer musical, more precisely the song _The Origins of Love._ Look up Neil Patrick Harris' version for a really solid four minutes of life. **

**ALSO ALSO- THANK YOU for 100 reviews!**

 **Disclaimer: No own.**

* * *

 **xxi : bake sale**

Will came back from the PTA meeting about five minutes after Nico had wrestled Cata and Franca into bed, which meant that Franca was probably already profoundly enthralled in a dream about rabbits or princesses, and that Cata was wide awake and waiting for Will to come say goodnight.

"Hey," Nico said looking up from his laptop. Will's return also meant that Nico was going to be unproductive for the rest of the evening. Will kissed the top of his head.

"Lots of exciting things going on in the world of elementary schools?" Nico asked.

After moving into the house and dropping Cata into a new school for her second year of kindergarten, they had decided to be good parents involved in the school life and volunteering and so on and so on. Will did a lot better at the PTA meetings than Nico did.

"There was a half hour discussion on whether the playground sand should be replaced by mulch."

This was why. Nico had the better schedule to accompany field trips or come to school to supervise paint time or whatever, so it all evened out.

"What are the pros and cons of..?" Nico said. "Nevermind. I bored myself just by asking."

Will laughed and threw his arms around Nico and rested his chin on Nico's head.

"They older kids have a talent show coming up at the end of the year, but the younger classes are all entering as groups with songs and stuff," Will said.

"You should probably already start begging for the night off."

"I will," Will said. He snickered, as he did every time his name came out as a verb. Dweeb. "And there's that bake sale on Friday, during the picnic, to fundraise for the new playground. I said we would bring a batch of something."

"I'll take care of it."

"Thank you."

"What were you going to do, pick up some nasty Walmart cupcakes?" Nico said.

"Don't be rude to Walmart. I have fond memories of eating a twelve-pack of Walmart cookies to myself."

"Drunk?"

"While I was missing you, nerd," Will said.

* * *

On Friday, Nico strapped two hyperactive kids and a picnic basket in the car and they drove to the hospital, picked up Will, and drove all the way back to the school.

"We have to bring the cookies to the table," Catalina reminded him.

"Thank you, baby girl," Nico said as he picked up the tupperwares from the trunk.

"Whoa," Will said. "Nico, how much did you bake?"

"A few different things," Nico said.

"There are other parents contributing to the bake sale, you know."

"Okay, smart guy," Nico said. "There weren't exactly bake sales at the Lotus Hotel and Casino. I wanted to make sure I didn't screw up."

Will smiled and kissed Nico- the best kind of kiss, where he also ran his hand through Nico's hair.

"I love how you care so much," Will said. "Cata, you're going to come back here, we're going to need some hands."

They all made their way to the picnic table, although Will had to pick up Franca because she kept running away to catch grasshoppers or watch ants march through the grass.

"Hello Nora," Will said when they got to the table. The mom running the stand, with some fifth graders making change and so on, looked up and beamed at them.

"Hi!" Nora beamed. "Oh, more goodies! Here- Liam- show Cata's dad where he can put that down… They're peanut-free, right?"

"Of course," Nico said. "There's a Post-It on the bottom container with the ingredients, if anyone asks…"

"Aren't you a doll," Nora beamed. "Thank you so much for the…" she peered down at the note. "Sfogliatelle… Italian ricotta-cheese filled multilayered pastry."

Nora looked up curiously.

"Family recipe," Nico shrugged.

"Okay, I was thinking that you could maybe bake cookies or make some brownies, but okay," Will mumbled, looking at Nico amused.

"No, no!" Nora said. "This is great! These we can sell for two dollars each! They're artisanal."

"See Will," Nico said. "They're artisanal. Problem with that? Also there are brownies here. And MnM cookie bars. Lemon bars. And cake-pops."

"Cake pops?"

"I'd made everything else, and then Francesca came home and wanted to help with something," Nico said.

"It's true Daddy," Francesca vouched for him. "I dipped the cake pops in sprinkles."

"No wonder they look so good," Will said. He still had a smile on his face. "Do you need help with anything, Nora?"

"Not at all," she smiled. "Just come back and pick up your Tupperware at the end of the night."

* * *

And sure enough, they were all empty.

"I am never letting you live this down," Nico said on the drive home.


	22. robot

**Can you believe that I am less busy in university than I am at my summer job (ha ha ha FOR NOW!) I'm pleased to report that I have about five new oneshots underway, all of them conveniently coming to me today when I should be writing an essay, and also no, this story didn't die. Part of the problem behind this chapter is that I wanted it to come as drabble 25 because it deals with serious themes and really cracks open certain characters that I wanted to explore more before, but as it turns out I wrote this piece one night and haven't written any others to come before because I am what we call, in academia, A Mess- so here it is!**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own anything at all.**

* * *

 **xxii: robot**

"I know you have no say in this at all," Antwan said. "And that Teresa will do whatever she wants, so I don't need to ask. But I want to marry her."

Wil audibly gasped _(what a nerd)_ and grabbed Antwan. Nico turned the heat down on the stove and waited his turn before hugging Antwan as well.

"I'm happy for you," Nico said. "She's going to say yes."

"Fingers crossed for that," Antwan said.

"No, no," Nico said. "Trust me. As someone who was a flight risk, I know she'll say yes."

"Flight risk he was," Will sighed. "Have you two talked about it?"

"We have," Antwan said. "Yeah, we talked about how we'd like to get married one day. I just… Lux Industries is doing really well, they just sold their first patent to the American Environmental Protection Agency. I'm settling down at work. We had that scare with the hydra that kind of… I don't know, made everything seem more important. The restaurant where we had our first date in New York is closing. I made reservations for their last night. Now is the right time."

Will _(fucking nerd)_ hugged him again.

"Do you have a ring?"

"I got her earrings too," Antwan said.

"Shit, yeah you're going to get a yes," Nico said.

* * *

Teresa took a sip of champagne and Catalina stepped back.

"There," Catalina said. "Hair fixed, all better."

"Thank you," Teresa said. She'd been quiet all day, save for occasional laughs. Catalina put down the spare bobby pins in her mind and tugged on Tessa's arm.

"Tessie, you okay?" Catalina asked. Teresa put her flute down and turned around as well. Tessa usually liked to look at least a little terrifying, but today she just looked relaxed. Her gown was sleeveless and the neckline was a sophisticated lace, the skirt was dramatic without being cumbersome. When Lucia had pointed to the dress in the window of a bridal shop, Tessa had insisted that the lace would drive her and her sensory processing disorder nuts. But no. Her hair was pinned back to reveal her earrings of the day- pearls, which Teresa had gathered after marching to the Empire State Building and asking Hermes for something of Mrs. Thompson- Antwan's mother. She looked absolutely lovely, and there were tears in her eyes.

"Hey," Cata said softly, her Big Sister kicking in. "Hey, Tess, what's going on?"

"I… I'm just really happy," she said. "And a little pissed because I told Antwan not to cry on our wedding day and I'm eating my words."

Cata laughed and wrapped her arms around Teresa, to which a Very Pregnant (and teary) Francesca also joined, and Emilia hopped on not long after. The door opened and closed.

"What am I missing?" Lucia asked. Her hair was swept up and she was also wearing the long black bridesmaid dresses.

"We're happy," Emilia said with a smile.

"The boys are doing well," Lucia said. She reached into her cleavage and took out an envelope which she handed to Teresa. "This is from Antwan."

Teresa smiled and took the letter.

"Why are you crying again?" Emilia asked.

"Yes, please, stop that I can't take it anymore," Francesca said.

"I'm just… This is so strange," Teresa said. "This is so normal. Franca, do you remember in high school when that boy told me that I was a cold-hearted bitch who couldn't feel shit? In those exact words?"

"Yes, and Daniel tried to beat him up but Cata stopped him," Franca said.

"I was scared that he was right for a long time. You know, because he's not the only person who said that. But now…"

"But now they're wrong for sure," Lucia said. "You're in love, _âbjé._ And that boy? He is head over heels. For real."

"It's real, _kapatid,"_ Francesca said, kissing Teresa's hair. "And you two will be so happy, it's crazy."

"Absolutely crazy, _ma soeur,"_ Emilia said. "It's what I'm looking for; I want to be that happy some day. It's beautiful. And you're pretty hot right now too."

Teresa laughed and pulled Emilia in.

"It is," Teresa said. "I can't believe I'm in love with this boy."

* * *

Teresa had fallen asleep listening to music, which provided a convenient cover as she eavesdropped on Antwan, who was laying with his feet on a pillow and his head next to Teresa's belly. She'd gotten so used to his hands quickly grazing by her or settling on the baby -even before there was a bump to feel- that the circles his fingers traced hadn't even disturbed her sleep.

"…so now that that bit of finance is in order, that's good news if you ever want to go to college, which you will if you're as smart as your mom," Antwan was saying. "I hope you have her eyes too, because she has amazing eyes- you'll see. Most people get spooked, but you and I are safe because she loves us. She's really good at loving people, babe. She's going to make such an amazing mom, you won't know what hit you. Right now we're arguing over what colour to paint your room, because it's a really boring white. We were leaning towards this really soft blue -not that we're trying to gender you or anything- but now we're thinking of putting up a bunch of multicoloured polka dot stickers I scouted out at Bed, Bath and Beyond when I was supposed to be exchanging the blender. It'll be like a party on your wall. And that way when you've picked a favourite colour, it'll be easy to repaint for you…"

Teresa smiled and fell back asleep, still listening to his soft rambling about practising lullabies.

* * *

"Cool," Antwan said to himself. He waved a baby book. "Did you know that at twenty-two weeks…"

"85% of women no longer experience morning sickness?" Tessa asked. "Yes I do, so please inform your child-"

"No," Antwan said. "By twenty-two weeks babies have developed their sense of motion. That means if you dance, she can feel it."

"Oh," Teresa said. Antwan got up and punched a few buttons on the sound system. Once the music had filled the apartment, he held his hand out to Tessa.

"May I have this dance?" he asked.

Her feet were swollen and she'd dealt with idiots and jerks and pedants all day- when she hadn't been busy throwing up.

"Of course," Teresa said.

* * *

The elevator doors closed shut behind her, leaving her alone.

"Hey, you're really messing things up in there," Tessa said, cupping her belly. "You need to knock it off, okay sweetheart? Stop doing somersaults with your umbilical cord. If you could possibly arrange for your placenta _not_ to block your only viable exit, that would be great. And maybe not develop more complications, okay? I don't want you to miss out on meeting your father because he had an aneurysm before you made it out."

The elevator door opened again. A small crowd ushered in, everyone wishing her a nice day.

"How was your appointment, Miss Solace?" Friedrich, from their legal team, asked.

"Wonderful, thank you," Tessa smiled.

"Do you know if it's a boy or girl yet?" he asked.

"I'll let you know once they've developed a concept of gender," Tessa said.

* * *

"Hi," Lucia said into the camera. "God, this is a mess… We haven't used Periscope in way too long, I- there you go, that's how you hold that."

"Good thing you have that engineering degree, or else gods know how we'd manage that iPhone," Teresa said.

"Oh, stop," Lucia said. She turned back to the camera. "So as we mentioned elsewhere on the Twittersphere, Tessa and I are in Seoul right now for business. But it turns out that something somewhere went wrong with our schedules, so we don't have to be anywhere until suppertime, which means that we have a day off, which is why we are currently laying in Tessa's bed with breakfast and answering questions from you guys."

"Right," Teresa said. "I think that this is the first time we've had a sister trip since…"

"Forever, maybe?" Lucia said. "I don't know, definitely since Sarina was born."

"True," Teresa said. "So we are suddenly on a sister trip! It's exciting. Someone is going to come get us before that and show us around the city, which is going to be really interesting. I have no idea what we're seeing, if we're going to museums or parks or palaces or what they've planned out for us. I want kimchee at some point, I think is my only request."

"That's reasonable, I think I want that too," Lucia said.

"We saw the demilitarised zone yesterday, but other than that the only thing we have seen of South Korea is traffic and the inside of airports, so I think we're both pretty excited."

"Speaking of excited, exciting things have already happened today," Lucia said reaching over Teresa and grabbing her plate. "Ta-dah! This means nothing to everyone, _but_ here is physical proof that Teresa ate a plate full of eggs this morning which she has not done since the start of her pregnancy."

"That's true, the smell of eggs has been so bad even my husband cannot eat them in the house," Teresa said.

"Cannot," Lucia repeated.

"That's right, physically cannot," Teresa said.

"The laws of nature are like _whoa are you sure_ and gravity will increase on his spoon and everything." Lucia said. "But _this morning_ when we were being lazy and started looking at room service she decided she wanted eggs and apparently, the baby likes eggs now."

"It's not as exciting as she makes it seem, there are plenty of things other than eggs to eat in the world," Teresa said.

"It means the baby's growing!" Lucia said.

"And it hates me less," Teresa said. "Which is good because pretty soon it will have to deal with me in person."

"Oh, stop," Lucia said. "Okay, so on to news that it more exciting to more people, here is why we are in Seoul literally a month before Teresa is no longer allowed to board aircrafts in case she pops…"

* * *

 **Lux Industries**

 **OfficialLuxInc**

Happy to report that our Lux family grew! Congratulations to co-founder Teresa, husband, and baby girl. Mother and daughter are well.

11:19 PM April 12th

* * *

 **Lucia Solace (Verified)**

 **luciasol**

My sister surprises me every day, but I always knew she would make a wonderful mother. Couldn't be happier.

3:45 PM April 13th

* * *

 **Teresa Solace (Verified)**

 **NotYourTess**

Thank you for all the well-wishes, I will be disappearing to enjoy my beautiful family now

4:15 AM April 15th

* * *

Teresa woke up and the baby was still on her chest. Ariel hadn't moved in her sleep, she just snoozed comfortably- which was fine by her, since that meant she could sleep too. There was also Antwan's hand, resting on top of the baby. He still looked like a dork when he slept, mouth open, face squashed, long limbs limp and flopped. But his hand on Ariel was solid and protective, and that helped Teresa fall asleep again.

"You should sleep before Ariel wakes up again," Antwan said. "Last night in the hospital, and all."

"And you?" Teresa asked.

"I'll get around to it," Antwan said.

"I can't sleep when she's right there and I could be watching her breathe and sleep and coo," Teresa said.

"If we're going to be up, I have something for you," Antwan said sitting up.

"Did you steal hospital pudding again?" Teresa said. "Antwan, I really appreciate you stealing the one menu item I can stomach, but they _will_ start noticing, I don't care how good you think you are…"

"No, no," Antwan said. "Nothing stolen."

He reached for his coat and nearly toppled out of the hospital bed, making Tessa laugh. He managed to extract a small box from his pocket which he presented to her.

"You got me a daughter," Antwan said. He kissed her forehead. "I know nothing can come close to how awesome that is but…"

"How long have you had these?" Tessa said with a smile.

"Pretty much since you told me you were pregnant," Antwan said.

Teresa looked at him and shook her head, but she was smiling.

"You've been collecting earrings for special events since you were little," Antwan said. "I thought this would make the top ten at least."

"So these are earrings?"

"Do I look like a stupid man who would get you another kind of jewelry?" Antwan said.

"I suppose not," Tessa said. She finally opened the little box to reveal diamond earrings, shaped like delicate daisies. The stone and flower for April.

"They're beautiful," she said.

"You're beautiful."

"No, I am absolutely gross and will continue to be for a few days," Teresa said. "Help me put them on?"

* * *

They were standing in the nursery, Tessa holding the sleeping baby.

Antwan had won the polka-dot argument, and she had to admit that the colours popping up all over the white walls and furniture looked really good. The blankets tucked into the crib were an awesome yellow. A little stuffed zebra sent in by Daniel had been elected to stand guard in the nursery, the others were tucked away in a toy chest. Antwan had taken the liberty of spray-painting a rocking chair green, and they'd installed lots and lots of bookshelves behind the rocking chair to accommodate baby shower presents.

They'd driven a nail into the wall over the changing table before she was born, obviously computing that hammers wouldn't be welcome in the apartment once a baby was involved. They just hadn't had a name plate to hang yet because they, well, hadn't picked a name.

Now they had a cool sign, which Cata's fiancé Beth had made out of a piece of driftwood, some grey and white spray paint, and a steady hand.

ARIEL

"I didn't know if you wanted me to put her full name," Beth said standing by the door, Cata's arm wrapped around her so her hand rested on her hip.

"This is beautiful," Antwan said. "Besides, I don't know if you'd have had room to put down _Ariel Julieta Thompson_ up there."

"I would have made it happen," Beth said. "I'm just excited to have nieces and nephews now."

* * *

"She is pretty exciting. Is there anything we can do to help while we're in New York?" Nico asked.

"Please cook for us," Antwan said. "I think if I see another egg roll, I'm going to scream."

"And this man's ambrosia tastes like chicken balls," Teresa said. "With the gross red sauce."

"It's not gross," Antwan said. "It's part of the Chinese take-out dining experience."

"Which we can provide an alternative to," Nico said, interjecting in the fight. "I can probably freeze some food for you guys too."

Teresa made a choking sound and her eyes filled up with tears. She put a hand over her mouth and fanned her eyes with the other.

"I am so hormonal right now, I am so sorry," Tessa said.

"Hey," Antwan said. "Hey, hey, hey, come here. It's okay. Sometimes I cry about Papa's lasagna too."

Teresa laughed.

"I'll go feed Ariel, see if that helps," Teresa said. "Thank you, Papa."

"Anytime," Nico said. "You guys have tomatoes, right?"

* * *

Teresa crashed down onto the couch, using Antwan's legs as a pillow and yanking his blanket onto herself.

"Tess, it's late love," Antwan said. "Go to bed."

"The baby's going to be awake in three minutes, give or take," Teresa said. "What are we watching?"

" _How Harry Met Sally,"_ Antwan said.

"Gross."

"I'm 99.9% sure that the movie I'm seeing tonight is going to be a rip off of this," Antwan said. "I wanted to do my homework before writing my critique."

"Smart man," Teresa said.

"Isn't that a turn on for you?"

"Like I said, Ariel's going to be awake anytime," Teresa said. She flipped onto her back and grinned at him. "Save that card for another time."

* * *

"Just because we can't take her trick-or-treating doesn't mean she can't wear a costume on her first Halloween!" Antwan said defensively.

"You're being frivolous," Teresa said.

"No, no- save your adjectives for later, you'll like this," Antwan promised. Teresa held her peace and let her husband drag her across the apartment and into the living room, where Ariel sat in her car seat wearing a black and yellow bumblebee costume.

"Oh my gods," Teresa said. She started laughing as soon as the shock dissipated.

"See?" Antwan said. "See? Isn't that worth it?"

"She's a pretty cute Bumble bee," Teresa said crossing the living room and unbuckling her daughter. "Aren't you? Aren't you?"

She scooped up Ariel against her chest and kissed her curls.

"I think she's pretty cute as a rule," Antwan said. He kissed her hair now. "She gets that from her mother."

"Well its not her father, that's for sure."

"Exsqueaze me?"

Teresa laughed.

* * *

"Knock, knock," Antwan said standing in her office door with the car seat in his hand. "Guess who came to visit Mommy at work."

Teresa smiled from her desk, slipped her feet back into her heels and got up.

"My two favourites," she said rounding her desk. "Hi, Bumblebee!"

"Ma Ma," Ariel cooed. Teresa froze in her tracks and looked at the baby as if a UFO had just opened its doors. Antwan grinned at her.

"She's been saying that basically since you left this morning," he said.

Teresa was just about ready to quit her job and barricade herself in the house then.

"You're so good, sweetheart," she said crouching down in front of the baby. "You're such a good girl, you learned how to say Mommy all on your own… Look at you go."

"She's bright," Antwan said. "She gets that from her mother,"

"And she's sweet," Teresa said. "That's all from her Dad."

* * *

"Every kid's different," Antwan said. "Do we really need to be concerned?"

"Babies can usually sit up between the ages of four and seven months," Teresa said.

"She's only at eight," Antwan said.

"But she learned to talk really early," Teresa said. "And she uses her hands fine. I'm just worried that this might be a problem. "

"Maybe," Antwan said.

"You don't look convinced."

"I say we give it a bit more time before we make an appointment with Dr Saunders," Antwan said. "Ariel has a regular checkup soon, right?"

"That's true," Teresa said. "Okay, we can wait."

* * *

"Auntie Tessa," Sarina said pawing at Teresa's knee.

"What can I do for you, Miss Sarina," Teresa said picking up her niece and hauling her onto her knees.

See, this was why you needed to become a CEO before having kids. You could turn any office into an impromptu daycare center. They always kept blocs and crayons in conference room A, but the train-track carpet was a nice new addition that Ariel was particularly enjoying. As a one year old she was still too little to understand how to move the train on the tracks, but god did that not stop her from having fun. Mina, on the other hand, was deeply asleep in the corner. That's what happened when you didn't mix your genes with a son of Hermes, apparently; your children didn't hate sleep.

"I want a braid," Sarina said.

"Didn't your mother teach you how to say please?"

"No," Sarina lied.

"I can read her mind, remember?" Teresa said. "I know she did."

"Please make a braid, Auntie Tessa," Sarina said.

"I would love to," Teresa said pulling Sarina's hair out of its ponytail.

"Sarina, are you being good to your aunt?" Lucia asked, walking in. Or waddling in, that's what happened when you were extra pregnant.

"Uh-huh," Sarina said.

"Thumb out of your mouth, please," Lucia said gently. "Ariel, look at you go with those trains, honey..."

Lucia reached out and tickled Ariel's belly and Ariel laughed and laughed and laughed. Teresa laughed from her spot.

"Bumble Bee, are you being silly?" Teresa asked.

"Bee Bee," Ariel said.

"She thinks that's her name, doesn't she?" Lucia asked.

"I think so," Teresa said.

"You should have picked a catchier name," Lucia said.

"Ariel's a great name," Teresa said. "And aren't you going to name Baby #3 _Leon._ What's _Leon,_ Lucia?"

"That's Naveed's idea," Lucia said. "Naveed has a lot of ideas. None of them are final until I push a baby out and decide what kind of mood I'm in."

Teresa laughed, which was why she missed the exact second that Ariel dropped her train, toppled over, and started shaking.

* * *

"Hey," Antwan said. "Look at me. Your family went through this with Emilia, and she turned out just fine."

"Emilia didn't have forty-minute-long grand mal seizures as an _infant,"_ Teresa said. "And if she would have, we'd have known why. Since when do babies start their epileptic tendencies with forty-minute grand mals?"

"They'll figure it out, Tess," Antwan said taking her hand. Terresa pulled it away and started pacing.

"I wonder if there's something I should have told them…"

"You told them everything that happened," Antwan said. "That's okay. It's okay that you can't explain it, Tess."

"Yeah except it's really not," Teresa said. She chewed on the knuckle of her pinkie nervously.

"Cannibalism won't help," Antwan said pulling her hand from her mouth. "Look, our baby girl is stable now. It was scary, but she's stable now and look at all the doctors around? Hell, one of the best pediatric neurosurgeons in the country is basically on his way here and Ariel doesn't need surgery. If anything, we're overprepared right now."

Teresa smiled a bit, but the knuckle still found its way back to her mouth. When pressed by Antwan, she nodded that everything was alright.

"You told them everything you _do_ know, Teresa," Antwan said.

"I did," Teresa said. "I even told them about how bad her fine motor skills are usually and how she was slow to sit up, but I'm not sure how that helps."

"I'm no neurologist," Antwan said. "So I don't know. But I know they'll figure it out. Ariel will be okay. I mean, she has to be."

* * *

Nico was only on coffee cup 2 and was therefore not impressed that the phone was ringing so early. His mood improved when he checked the caller ID.

"Hi Tessie," he said.

"Hi Papa," she said. "I was wondering if we could come stay in Boston for a few days. Ariel, Antwan and me."

"Uh… yeah," Nico said, noticing that she didn't say _Ariel, Antwan and I._ "Is everything okay?"

"We really want to be in Boston right now," Teresa said. That wasn't an answer.

"Tessa, do you need anything?" Nico asked.

"We're excited to see you and Dad," she said before hanging up.

"Hey Will," Nico shouted through the house. Will made an unhappy sound which meant he'd just been tugged from sleep. Too bad. "Have you heard from the twins recently? Or any of the kids in New York?"

"No," Will said. "Why?"

"Nothing," Nico said. "Tessa and company are coming to stay a few days."

"Grandbaby!" Will said, suddenly wide awake. "I'll go dig up some old toys."

* * *

"I can't," Teresa said looking at her phone.

"Yes you can," Antwan said. His hands closed over Tessa's. "Do you want me to do it?"

"This is stupid," Teresa said. "She's my sister. She knows what I know before I do, most of the time. I shouldn't be scared of telling her anything."

"You don't have to be scared," Antwan said. "That's right."

"Please dial for me," Teresa said. Her voice cracked. Antwan took her phone and punched in the passcode and the number. Lucia's contact picture filled the screen and Teresa picked up the phone from him.

"Tess, hi," Lucia said. "How are you feeling? Better? I was thinking about it, maybe Sarina's the one who gave you that cold because she still isn't going to school."

"I'm not sick," Tessa said.

"What? Why weren't you at work?" Lucia said. "What's the matter?"

Tessa closed her eyes and took a deep breath and spit it out all at once: "You and Naveed and the kids need to go get your genetics tested."

"What's wrong?" Lucia asked. Panic started to filter into her tone. "Tessa, you're scaring me."

"Yeah," Tessa said. She felt too breathless to add more. Antwan grabbed her hand and Tessa squeezed. "Umm, Luce, do you remember how… do you remember that seizure that Ariel had?"

There was a pause and Tessa could fill in her sister's _how do you think I would forget?_ But she elected to be nice and simply said "Yes" and then "Tessa, what's wrong?"

"There's this one doctor- an intern, really, a very observant intern who realised how exaggerated Ariel's startle reflex was… And they connected it to the seizure and they tested her and she has Tay-Sachs disease," Teresa said. "And because she has Tay-Sachs her nerve cells are doing to deteriorate and she's going to lose her muscles and her ability to eat and her sight and hearing, and because that will happen she's going to die before she's seven."

Tessa squeezed her eyes shut and clung to Antwan's hand. She might sprain his wrist.

"Teresa…" Lucia breathed.

"Please," Tessa said.

"Where are you?" Lucia asked.

"We're in Boston with Ariel and the dads," Teresa said. The name burned on its way out. Nothing had sounded sweeter when they'd picked it. "I don't want to talk, Luce. Just go make an appointment to make sure Darius and Mina and Sarina are okay. If I carry the gene, you will too."

"Teresa…"

"I know," Teresa said. "Hey, can we talk later?"

"I love you."

"Yeah," Tessa said. "Yeah, me too."

She hung up first and dropped the phone on her old bed.

"That's our life now," Teresa told Antwan. "Our daughter's going to die and we're going to have to tell people so that they know, and we're going to know too, every single day, that our daughter's going to die because there's nothing we can do-"

"Stop," Antwan said. He rubbed his eyes. "Stop, let's… let's talk about this later."

"We've been doing that for a week, hiding out in Boston," Teresa said. "This isn't... This isn't sustainable. Not in the long run, not if we want to start making plans..."

Antwan looked like he was going to be sick. He scratched his head.

"I think Ariel would make a really cute pumpkin this Halloween," he said.

"She would," Teresa said.

"In one of those big orange costumes, with a scary face stitched on the belly and a little green stem on her head," Antwan said. "On a hat, you know?"

"That would be adorable," Tessa agreed. She leaned her head against his shoulder.

"Maybe that could be our life too," Antwan said. "Maybe we can look at… like… what's going to happen in six months. Four months. Tomorrow. You know, instead."

"We could," Tessa said.

"I know it's hard for you because you're this weird belegged encyclopaedia that knows everything-"

"I don't think that's entirely true," Tessa said.

"Don't worry, it is. But if the doctors say that she has… if she has two to four years, we're going to need to make that twenty-four to forty-eight months."

"1460 days," Tessa said.

"Right," Antwan said. He didn't sound sure, but it was the closest thing to a plan they had. And, as somebody who came up with plans for a living, the only one Teresa thought made sense. The only one remotely within their reach.

"I'm going to go rescue Ari from the dads before they change her outfit again," Tessa said. "I think after six of us, they miss playing dress-up."

* * *

"Don't lie to me," Teresa said late one night. Nico and Antwan had cooked supper, they were outside with Ariel now. Teresa was drying, Will was washing dishes, and his arms were covered with goosebumps the second she spoke. He'd known this was coming.

"I want to," Will said.

"But don't," Teresa said.

"I'm a neurosurgeon, not a neurologist," Will said.

"Your title doesn't matter, you know things," Teresa said. "You have to fill in the gaps. And if you don't, you know I'll find someone at work. I'll hire someone at work. I'll pester the top neurologist in the country if I have to. How are Ariel's chances with all the experimental treatments going on?"

Will scrubbed at a spot on a pot.

"It's clean," Teresa said. "Look Dad... if I were a patient's parents?"

Will pulled his hands from the water, dried his hands and pulled Tessa into a hug.

"If you were my patient, I would tell you they were slim to none," Will said. "Because you're my daughter and she's my granddaughter, I'm just going to hold you, okay?"

"Okay," Teresa said faintly.

* * *

Teresa chewed on her pinkie knuckle and used her other hand to rub circles on Antwan's back. They watched Ariel through the window of the clean room, where they couldn't go in. Extra oxygen was being pumped into Ariel, because of the infection.

"She'll be okay," Antwan said. He sounded exactly like he was lying.

Teresa didn't want to say it, but this was their life now. In and out of hospitals with a baby girl that could become sick or go…

Teresa didn't want to say it either.

* * *

Antwan sat at the piano with Ariel on his knees. She laughed when he played songs from her favourite movies, or silly songs like Yankee Doodle, and Teresa smiled from the kitchen where she was doing some paperwork.

"How is she doing?" Lucia asked, taking a sip of her coffee.

"She's doing good," Tessa said. "The occupational therapy is really helping her use her hands at all. Antwan tricks her into her exercises by making her play piano."

"Sneaky," Lucia said. "See, there are certain upsides to children of Hermes."

Teresa nodded and took a sip of coffee. "The doctors think she would be a good candidate for another cord blood transfusion."

"Another?" Lucia said. "It was hell when she had her first one."

"I know, I know," Teresa said.

"I'm telling you because I am your sister that I have you on file as saying 'Lucia Roshanak Solace-Almazan, do not ever let me consider this again'."

"I know," Teresa said. "Trust me, _I remember_ how hard on her it was. But it did help a bit, and it definitely helped the science and the search for a cure and… I just… I don't know. She could also start school in a year."

"She could," Lucia said. "She would like that."

"She could and we've been so lucky with her," Tessa said. "We're so lucky she can walk and babble and she loves to smile… She deserves to go to school."

"She does," Lucia said.

"Everything with Ariel is a game of should I or should I not," Tessa said, linking her hands around her cup of coffee. "She has a cough- should we bring her to the hospital in case it's another respiratory infection, or should we just chance it because she could pick up an infection at the hospital? The doctors say that she could have another transplant that could prolong her life- do we say yes and risk losing her to a complication, or do we send her to school so she can be a little girl?"

Lucia kicked her under the table. They'd developed their complicated footsy-language in long meetings. Tessa smiled.

"I know that this is the one thing we don't have in common, but if you want my opinion, she sounds like a very happy little girl out there."

"Antwan's doing _Beauty and the Beast_ for her," Teresa said. "That's her favourite."

* * *

"Dada," Ariel said. "What are we eating?"

"Guess, Pumpkin," Antwan said. "Use your nose."

" _Hmmm,"_ Ariel said dramatically. "Nutterbut kwash?"

"I'm sorry, what?" Antwan said.

"Are we eating nutterbut kwash today?" Ariel asked again. Antwan bit his lips and grinned.

"You got me Bumble Bee," he said. "Butternut squash! Come here, I'll lift you up and you can look in our pot…"

He did, and Tessa wrapped her arms around him from behind. In his ear she whispered in Greek, which had become their secret language around Ariel: "How many times a week are you going to make us eat squash so you can hear her say that?"

"As many times as I can," Antwan said. He started chewing his lip. Teresa, having high stakes in the wellbeing and preservation of those lips, had noticed very early on to pick up on his tell.

She kissed his ear again and rested her chin on his shoulder. They had these little moments every now and then where something on TV or something someone said that was totally unrelated suddenly spooked them into being scared for Ariel. They'd gotten good at fishing each other out.

"Group hug!" Ariel called.

That kickstarted Antwan's smile again.

* * *

At the end of the night, over half of which Ariel had spent trick-or-treating in Antwan's arms because though she had trouble walking, she didn't want to be in a stroller like her other cousins who were _babies,_ Ariel started picking through her candies and putting them in her cousins' treat bags.

"That was really nice of you," Teresa said giving her a kiss on Ariel's forehead. They both knew that candy couldn't go through a feeding tube, which was why Ariel couldn't hold onto her loot. She was dressed up like a pirate, with an eye patch and a captain's hat and a tin-foil hook for a hand and a stuffed parrot that Antwan had tied to her by re-purposing a child leash.

"I kept pencils," Ariel said.

"That's alright," Teresa said. "Do you think you could use them to draw daddy a picture?"

Ariel nodded and smiled.

"Shh," she said. "It's gonna be a surprise."

"Okay Captain, I won't tell them," Teresa whispered.

* * *

"Ariel _loves_ being in school," Miss Daphne said smiling at them from across the desk. "She's doing very well to keep up with all of them. She has some trouble when they're playing outside, just because of the…"

 _Weakness. Vision problems. Seizures that cut her time in class._

"… general difficulties with mobility," Miss Daphne said. "But she's really sweet. She really loves music hour, and she likes our science experiments. She wants to be a chemist- which is not a word a lot of preschoolers know, mind you."

"She gets that from her mom," Antwan said.

"Her father teaches her piano," Teresa said just as coyly. He squeezed her hand, and Tessa's attention snapped back to the teacher. "What about reading?" Tessa asked. "She really likes stories at home, but we think she might be lazy with us because she wants to make _us_ read, how is her alphabet at school?"

"Oh," Miss Daphne said. "She's doing fine with the alphabet, as far as I can tell…"

"What do you mean as far as you can tell?" Teresa asked.

"Well see, we haven't done much work with her…"

"Why not?" Teresa asked.

"Well, Mrs. Thompson…"

"Solace," Tessa said. _Strike One._ "Why isn't my daughter learning the alphabet in kindergarten?"

"Well, Mrs. Solace, she… She's really good with singing the song…"

"In which case, you can start teaching her how to sound out letters like all the children do," Teresa said. "Look, you can't treat Ariel like she's a death row inmate. Nobody knows how much time she has. She might live twenty years if science catches up. If every teacher doesn't teach Ariel more than the bare minimum to usher her into the next grade or to fill up a rapport, she might be a twelve-year-old or a twenty-year old who can't read. Ariel is very interested in learning, and for every thing she can't do, there's one that she can. I'd like you to work on that with her."

"Of course, Mrs. Thompson."

"Solace," Tessa said.

"Thank you," Antwan said.

He was being nice of course, but Teresa still held her head high. If she was going to always prepare herself and her family for the worst, she also had to prepare for the best. It was only logical.

* * *

"Ariel can you hold your head up straight while I braid your hair, pumpkin?" Teresa asked.

"No," Ariel said. Teresa felt like she'd suddenly been drained and filled with ice water.

"Why no, Captain?" Teresa asked.

"It's hard," Ariel said.

"Okay," Teresa finally managed to say. "Okay, that's alright Captain."

"Can you still braid my hair?" Ariel asked.

"Of course," Teresa said. "You're going to look like a princess."

"I think I'm going to be Belle for Halloween," Ariel said.

"That's a good idea," Teresa said. "But I don't have to call you Belle until you put the costume on. You're my Captain until then, okay?"

The second she had Ariel set up and ready to go to school -Gods, did she ever notice the weakness in Ariel's neck then- she texted Antwan _make an appointment with Dr Bertrand please,_ because he was so much better at charming the secretary into making room for them.

When Ariel was in school, Teresa rushed to work and locked herself in her office and kicked the shut door.

 _Fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuck._

She didn't want that teacher to be right. She wanted Ariel to learn her alphabet and learn to read. That was such a simple wish. How could she be getting worst now?

* * *

"Teresa, we'll be okay," Nico said. "Ariel is going to help us take care of her, isn't that right Ari?"

"I will," Ariel said from Will's arms. They were babysitting on Tessa and Antwan's anniversary, because Lucia had staged an intervention about how they simply didn't go out anymore. Teresa hated asking Franca, who had enough kids to worry about as it was, to babysit. She never asked Lucia, because she knew Lucia would say yes in a heartbeat and didn't want to bank on Twin Privileges. But Lucia had been right to assume that asking a doctor and an overly concerned Italian grandfather to babysit would do the trick.

"I know you will Captain, but I need to show Grandpa and Grandad how your hugging machine works," Teresa said.

"I was gon not tell," Ariel said.

"I know you were," Tessa said. The hugging machine was in her room, by a daybed under the window. As far as Nico could tell, it was a small vest attached to a machine by tubes and wires, with a little mask somewhere in the mix as well.

"This machine hugs Ari hard hard hard, which helps the ick in her chest and in her throat leave," Tessa said carefully. "Granddad- there's a paper with how hard the machine needs to hug her and for how long."

"It a long time," Ariel chimed in.

"It's juuust long enough, Belle," Teresa said tickling Ariel's belly and getting a laugh out of her. "Oh -another thing- she's still very ticklish, but you really need to watch out for the feeding tube because it can come out if you push against it too much. She's already eaten, so don't worry about that, if something happens to it just call us-"

"We won't be calling you, we'll be okay with her," Will promised.

"Okay, and her neurologist wants us to call him directly if she has a seizure now because of, umm, a new study going on…" Teresa said. "Just call us if she has a seizure, even if she bounces back without going to the hospital, I'll take care of it."

"Understood," Nico said. "Now go. You'll be late. Antwan will think you stood him up."

"Can we go walk now?" Ariel asked.

"Sweetheart, you and Daddy went for a walk this morning," Teresa said.

"I feel good," Ariel said.

"How about Granddad and Grandpa decide after you play some games," Tessa said.

Eventually they managed to usher her out the door. Ariel was absolutely invested in finger painting, which was an easier alternative to colouring now that she struggled to hold onto things. When she was clean, she was very insistent on going for a walk again. Because she looked happy and because they were indulging grandparents, they went for a walk- bundling her up first. It was hard on Ariel, who stopped frequently to look around before taking more steps. Nico was holding her tightly, expecting her legs to give out under her at any time.

"You sure like your walks, kiddo," Will said.

"Mo and Da like walks," Ariel said. "They are sad when I don't."

Will froze and so did Nico. The little girl froze between them too.

"Come Grandpa," Ariel said. "We need to go pick flowers for Mommy."

And so they did. Ariel told Will exactly how to press the flowers between the pages of some old engineering textbook, one that already seemed full of similar gifts. Bedtime came by quickly after that, with a quick bath and some time on the "hugging machine" and a drink of water, gently given thanks to a syringe in tiny enough portions that they could trickle down Ariel's throat without her swallowing. She loved hearing the old lullabies that Nico and Will were filled with, which resulted in a twenty-minute concert before Ariel finally fell asleep.

"We're such bad grandparents," Nico said closing the door behind them. "Putting her to bed so late, Tessa would kill us."

Will nodded. Nico touched his cheek.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing," Will said.

"I repeat, what's wrong?"

"Nothing," he said. "Ariel's just… a lot worst off than Tessa had told us. And getting worst a lot quicker."

Nico pulled Will in. Working with sick kids all day had meant that this was precisely his worst nightmare: a sick child of his own that he couldn't fix. There were some weeks, if things were bad at work or if a patient he'd been following since infancy passed away, that Will would panic and see tumors in headaches or appendicitis in stomachaches. Sometimes, he knew just a little bit too much.

"She's such a happy little girl," Nico said. "They're taking care of her so well."

"Yes," Will agreed. "Absolutely. But that won't keep her… It won't work forever."

"Don't talk like that," Nico said. Not because Will was wrong, but because... well, there was no point in stating what they already knew.

* * *

"Hey," Antwan said. "How about mummy sings our lullaby, and Daddy and Ariel hum it?"

"That's a really good idea," Tessa encouraged. Ariel smiled and cooed, the main way in which she signaled that something made her happy, or that she was glad to participate even as she lost her ability to talk. It was a crazy contrast to the unpleased faces she made to things she disliked, like the shaking therapy or brushing her teeth.

Now she hummed _you are my sunshine_ along with them. She tried to focus on the melody, not on the unthinkable lyrics: _please don't take my sunshine away._

* * *

"We're going to move her to the ICU," Dr Alexis said, hugging his clipboard.

"I'm sorry, she had a cough this morning, pneumonia at lunch and now..?" Antwan asked.

"Right," Dr Alexis agreed. "The pneumonia is most likely from aspiring her secretions -by that we mean spit. It's… getting worst rapidly, she needs more help breathing. She'll get that in the ICU."

Tessa held her hand as the doctors wheeled her bed to another floor.

"Ariel, it's mommy," Tessa said. Ariel couldn't turn her head to see her, after all. "We're going to bring you to another room, okay?"

Ariel cooed from underneath her mask and her wires and her tubes, and Tessa's stomach clenched.

"Once we get you settled in, we can read some stories," Teresa promised. "You'll help mommy pick? I know you will."

Tessa heard a few bars of _Beauty and the Beast_ before Ariel started sucking in air again, desperately trying to fill her lungs.

* * *

 **Lux Industries**

 **OfficialLuxInc**

Devastated to confirm the passing of Ariel Thompson, age 5. Thank you for your thoughts, please respect our family's privacy.

7:00 PM April 7th

* * *

In the end, it was sepsis, a body-wide infection. The doctors spent so much time draining fluid from her chest, to no avail. They did try to resuscitate her once, and Tessa and Antwan were urged out of the room for that part. The second time her heart monitor flew into a frenzy, there was nothing to do but each hold onto a hand. She'd stopped cooing between both flatlines, see. That's what they took turns telling people. Antwan was the one who told the Dads, because Tessa couldn't look at the two men who'd raised her and tell her that she'd lost her own.

Mercifully, they'd arranged most funeral details in advance- years ago, really. It sounded dark and it sounded morbid, but Teresa was glad they had done it in a time of clarity, when they still had a happy girl to come home to and find comfort and smiles and laughs and music in. She was happy to just send emails without thinking too hard about them, about what they meant. It was the comfort and efficiency and productivity of building an Ikea shelf: just following the steps and going through the motions.

When she did start thinking, she started to want to crack her own skull open.

Ariel had been born on April 12th at 9:00 PM, and she had died five days and five hours short of that time at the age of five, five floors down from the floor she'd been born on.

She didn't want to be thinking that, but how could she not? It drove her crazy.

* * *

"I love you so much," Lucia said holding Teresa against her chest.

"I love you too," Teresa said mechanically. Her voice sounded rusty whenever she spoke, like a toy that had just been discovered after years and years of abandonment.

Lucia pushed back a piece of Tessa's hair. "You can tell me anything, anytime, anywhere."

Teresa shook her head. "Actually I can't, Lucia. Not this time."

"Tessa…"

"No," Teresa said. "No. We have the same genes, but it was my baby girl who was sick. This was my loss. You can't stop that from being true, and you can't change the fact that you have three healthy, beautiful children."

"Teresa," Lucia said.

"No," Tessa said. "No, and leave me alone for… for a few minutes."

"I'm sorry," Lucia said.

"Don't be," Tessa said. "I'm glad that Sarina and Mina and Darius are healthy, Lucia. I just… give me time."

* * *

Teresa still wore her funeral heels and a dress she was going to burn. She leaned against Antwan, her feet dangling from the edge of the sofa.

"This is it," Antwan said.

"Yes," Teresa said. Mechanically. Again. She just made the noises now because she knew it would insult him if she didn't, and this wasn't about her.

She leaned back further, resting her head on Antwan's knees.

"I was going to play a movie, to make some sound," Antwan said.

"Okay," Tessa said. "Good idea."

He reached for the remote and took Tessa's hand once the movie started.

"Weren't you wearing earrings this morning? The little diamond daisy ones?" Antwan asked.

Tessa nodded. "I left them with her."

Antwan turned back to watch the TV.

* * *

The alarm on Antwan's phone went off. That meant he hadn't gotten up in four hours, and Tessa hadn't talked in just as long. He crossed the apartment and cracked open their bedroom door to show her the phone. She nodded.

"I was just thinking," Teresa said. "About how I was supposed to speak at MIT in a week, and I haven't called to cancel. Should I?"

"Scientists figure that losing a child has the same toll on the body as a major physical injury," Antwan said. He still hated saying it. _Losing a child._ That made it sound like you lost one thing, not everything. "If you'd been hit by a car, would you take the time off?"

"Yes," Teresa said.

"So call MIT," Antwan said. "Or make Lucia do it."

"Okay," Teresa said as he came to sit on the bed next to her. "Where did you hear that?"

"I read it," Antwan said. "In one of those grief counselling books Debbie dropped by."

Debbie had also dropped off an exceptionally inedible looking casserole as well as a pile of books over. Teresa doubted her training as a counselor, despite Debbie's claims.

"You read those?" Teresa said.

"Before we put them back in front of her door, I did," Antwan said. "When I don't know what to do I usually ask you, and you usually know these things because you read. I was just going to skip the middleman."

Teresa gave him a strange not-a-smile.

* * *

While Antwan who worked from home gingerly poked at his work as the weeks went by for lack of anything else to do, Teresa went back to work after a month because there was nothing else to do. As it turned out, a terminally ill child who needed twenty-four-hour care leave a big hole.

"Good morning, Mrs. Solace," the secretary said sweetly. She smiled at Tessa.

"Good morning, Jess," Tessa said. "Do you have my mail?"

"Mrs. Solace took care of it," she said.

"Thank you," Tessa said. "What's on the agenda today?"

"Mrs. Solace told me to…"

"Thank you Jess, but I don't care what my sister said," Tessa said. "What's on the agenda today?"

* * *

"We need to terminate the bank account we had set up for Ariel's college tuition," Antwan said. "The bank called today. What do you want to do with the money in there?"

"Turn it into a scholarship," Teresa blurted. She hadn't thought of it much, but there it was. Antwan cracked a smile.

"At NYU?" he asked.

"For chemists," Teresa said.

"Or musicians?" Antwan asked.

"Only pianists."

"Violinists too, though."

"Or women who want to work in neuroscience or genetics?"

This stopped sounding like a game all of a sudden.

* * *

"Good morning, Jessica," Teresa said. "Do you have my mail?"

"Good morning, Mrs. Solace," she said. "Absolutely, here it is."

"Thank you," Teresa said. She took the envelopes and went back upstairs.

* * *

"I swear I know you from somewhere," the woman at the nail salon said. Teresa wasn't sure where this was going, but she looked up. Photographic memory and all, she recognised the woman right away. Her name was Amanda, her son was named Carsyn. For Zeus' sake, she'd just wanted to get her nails done and feel a bit more human. This had just been to get her out of the house that weekend.

"I don't think so," Teresa said.

"I could swear I knew those eyes," the woman said. Teresa's stomach would have turned in knots a month ago, but it was numb now.

"Oh, I remember now!" the woman said. "You're Ariel's mom. Our children went to music classes together, when they were three. I'm Carsyn's mom! Carsyn with a C?"

"Oh that's right," Teresa said. She tried to summon the bitchiness she was famous for, the one that came out of her unexpectantly at camp and in meetings and when a cab driver tried to overcharge her. Still, Good Christian Pinterest Mom Amanda ploughed through.

"It's been so long!" Amanda beamed. "Carsyn's just wrapping up first grade! Music classes seem to be ages ago! How's Ariel doing?"

Teresa chewed her lip.

"She's well," Teresa said. "She still likes music."

"Oh that's wonderful," Amanda said. "In a year or so I'm hoping to sign up Carsyn for piano classes. If you like, I know a really good teacher who's used to working with young children if that's something Ariel would like. Let me check my phone, I have the number in there somewhere- that's the teacher Aislynn had…"

"Please don't," Teresa said hurriedly. "I'm sorry, I don't know why I said that. Ariel's dead now, but she did like music, that wasn't a lie. I'm sorry, I really don't want to talk to you right now and I don't have the energy to pretend I do but I don't want to be a bitch because I always am. Can we just be strangers in a nail salon again?"

Amanda looked shaken. The technicians looked just as shocked, though at least their masks hid their faces. Teresa just felt flustered.

So much for feeling human for a day.

"You know what, they're fine like this," Teresa said pulling her hand away and standing up. "Thank you, where do I pay?"

* * *

"I want to put things away," Tessa said.

"What?" Antwan asked. He definitely saw Tessa's hand on the door to Ariel's bedroom.

"I want to put things away," Tessa said. "I don't need more reminders that her room is empty, I have enough of those."

"But the door's closed," Antwan said. "Isn't that enough?"

Tessa shook her head. Antwan looked at the door.

"Do you think you could wait?" Antwan said. "Because I can't do that right now."

Tessa took a deep breath, but she shook a bit.

"Okay," she said. "Okay. But can we donate the things we're not using anymore? Like her clothes, so that someone who needs them can dress their children. They're just hanging in her closet right now and it's senseless and so sad."

"Some of them," Antwan said. "Some of them would be okay, so a little girl who needs them gets to look cute too. But not the Halloween costumes. And not the overalls."

"Gods no," Teresa agreed. "Not the overralls."

She pulled him into a hug, and felt herself deflate like a balloon. That was all her energy for today. Luckily, she'd sparked enough out of Antwan to open the door.

* * *

"Good morning, Jessica," Teresa said.

"Good morning, Mrs. Solace," she said. "Here is your mail."

"Thank you," Teresa said coolly. She took the envelopes and went back upstairs.

* * *

She knew that they'd agreed to leave each other alone, to avoid dragging each other down on bad days- like a drowning man pulling down a woman trying to fish him out, or a drowning woman dragging a floating man to the bottom of the pool. But she heard Antwan cry and stepped into their bedroom.

"Antwan?" she asked. He turned around, saw her, got up and quickly crossed the room to bear hug her. This was the biggest touch Tessa had gotten in days, and her sensory processing disorder screeched in surprise. Still, she wrapped her arms clumsily around him.

"What's wrong?" She asked.

"I'm being stupid," Antwan said in her hair.

"No you're not," Tessa said. "Would you call yourself stupid if you'd been hit by a car?"

Antwan pulled back and picked at his eyes. "It's stupid, really. I just- Debbie dumped those grief books back yesterday and I was reading one and I read the stat about couples getting divorced after the loss of a child and I… Tess, it's so high. So high, Tess. So…"

"Antwan," Tessa said holding him. "Antwan…"

"I'm just so upset, Tess," he said. "I don't know what would happen if I lost you too."

"You won't," she said, putting her hands on her cheek. "Antwan, you won't. You won't."

"I don't know if I'm strong enough to do this, Tess," Antwan said. "To do anything."

"We're not together because we're strong," Tessa said. "We're together because that's how it has to be. I still need you to be here and you need me too so we're okay, truly, we're…"

Antwan kissed her. Their lips were both salty and cracked and gross, but they kissed.

* * *

"Good morning," Teresa said. "Mail?"

"Good morning, Mrs. Solace," Jessica said. "Here it is."

She took the envelopes and went back upstairs.

* * *

The alarm on Antwan's phone rang. It had been four hours. Time to at least exchange three words.

"We should go on a trip," Antwan said. "That way we get to come home and home is a place where it's just the two of us again. You know?"

"Sure," Teresa said. Maybe this was from a book. "Where should we go?"

"I don't know," Antwan said. "Anywhere. Kenya. Alaska. France. The sky's the limit."

"I'll think about it," Teresa said.

* * *

Teresa had a kettle in her office, but she needed to stretch her legs so she walked over to the employee room with her mug to make more tea.

She paused just outside when she heard her name.

"… being a real bitch," Jessica complained.

"Don't know why you're surprised," someone else said. "I hate to break it to you girl, but if her own kid dying can't keep her away from her job for more than a month, she truly is heartless."

Teresa's hands clenched around the mug.

"Don't say that," someone else hushed.

"It's true," the second girl defended. "She took all the family pictures in her office down, did you know? She's like a robot."

Various murmurs poured through the break room. Teresa held her head high and walked in. The conversation quieted. She flicked the switch on the hot water boiler and turned back to the table, leaning on the counter. She recognised all the girls who were sitting there, Jessica and Adele and Bethany and Lori. She wanted to say something witty. She wanted to ask them what they were all talking about in a friendly, chirpy voice. She wanted to tell them that if she was such a bitch, they should probably go work for somebody else and she'd be happy to give them all good recommendations.

Instead she turned back towards the kettle and the mug.

"My daughter loved taking walks, and she did until the very last day that she could use her legs. She would pick flowers for me," Teresa said. "And we would press them, and I would pretend to be surprised every time she gave me a flower. And so I put those flowers in all the picture frames in my office because it's easier to see them and remember her than it is to see her face, which I see just about everywhere else, and which is completely overwhelming."

She turned around, pivoting on the point of her heel.

"Any other questions?"

They all starred at her. One was about to apologize, so Tessa cut her off.

"Then you can leave."

* * *

She and Antwan had taken to writing letters and leaving them on each other's bedside tables, to update each other on how they were doing without triggering each other on a 'good day', which were actually just 'better days' or 'bad days' in disguise. It wasn't a foolproof system, and it wasn't easy. But it was easier, and there wasn't much else to ask for at this point.

Tessa stopped writing and reading.

* * *

"New Year's Eve is off tonight," Antwan said. Tessa was already dressed. She'd gotten _dressed._

"Why?" she asked. Francesca was hosting. Teresa had seen her host a surprise party for Cata with thirty people when she'd been eight months pregnant. Francesca did not cancel events.

"Tomas is sick," Antwan said. Tomas was Franca's oldest, he was seven years old. Just two years older than Ariel and the family's first baby boy. "He… he's in the hospital."

"What?" Tessa said. "What do you mean Tomas is sick? What is he doing in the hospital? Why is my nephew in the hospital?"

"Tessa, calm down," Antwan said. "He has meningitis."

"Meningitis," Tessa repeated. "Meningitis? And now he's in the hospital? Jesus, that's supposed to be eradicated! Anti-vaxxers who don't understand fucking goddamned herd immunity I swear to all the fucking gods, _what is my nephew doing with meningitis?_ "

"Tessa, breathe," Antwan said.

"Do they know if he's going to be okay?" Tessa asked. "How are they treating him, how bad is it, how long has he…"

"Tessa, you need to breathe," Antwan said. "Breathe…"

"Don't touch me!" She virtually screamed.

"Okay I won't, but you need to focus on me and breathe, just…"

The front door opened. Lucia let herself in, Chinese take-out and a bottle of wine in her arms.

"Hello."

She looked over them, processing everything as if it was normal, as if they hadn't been fighting.

"Tomas is recovering in hospital. Dad just called. But I thought you guys might need a distraction," Lucia said. "I have extra egg rolls. We can watch bad historical movies and Antwan can critique the cinematography while we laugh at their anachronisms and bad period clothing."

Tessa breathed.

* * *

Will had a conference in New York, and there was no shortage of kids to stay with, but since Tessa offered up their guest room he stayed with her. Her silences seemed heavier and her laughs came few and far between and sounded hollow. Antwan wasn't much better, but it was Tessa that Will had raised and that he knew.

She was sitting on their porch with a book and a glass of wine left over from dinner, and so Will went to sit next to her.

"Do you need anything Dad?" Tessa asked when she saw him.

"No," Will said. He sat with her for a bit overlooking the traffic and lights and colours of New York.

"You know," Will said. "Your papa and I always knew that we were taking in the children of parents who couldn't finish their jobs. At first we felt the pressure of living up to Cata's father, since he passed away trying to bring her to camp... but all of you had different stories. You and Lucia were taken from your father by Athena, Danny was abandoned, Franca was a question mark for the longest time, and Emilia's mother was an addict. We had to learn not to pay attention to that. Not to judge your mothers and fathers and think of their failures and their mistakes, because we didn't know. It was hard with Emilia especially, because we had this really sick baby on our hands, and it could have been prevented. We talked a lot about it, and we decided that the only bad parent was a parent who didn't love their child. True love makes you fight harder than anything else, it makes you see clearly, it makes you put someone else before you time after time, and it makes you support, accept and encourage even the craziest shit your kids can throw at you."

He took Tessa's hand.

"We thought you and Antwan were great parents," Will said. "It doesn't matter how long it lasted."

Tessa's breath caught in her throat. She looked down at the city for a bit.

"I keep… I keep feeling guilty that Antwan and I didn't think of getting our genes checked before we had her," Tessa said. "I'm a bioengineer. I should have known better. But we didn't, and we…. We made her sick."

"I've heard that a million times Tessa. I've heard it over and over at work when kids are diagnosed with genetic issues or birth anomalies, and I'm not saying that to make you feel stupid. But can I be honest with you Tessa, and say something I can't say at work? That's crazy, Tessa. And it's not fair to you because you did everything for that little girl, and it won't bring her back."

"I know," Tessa said. "Nothing will. But it's not the rational part of my brain that thinks anymore."

"Right," Will said. He pulled her closer. "Right."

* * *

Just because Tessa wasn't writing letters to Antwan anymore didn't mean she didn't read his.

 _Tess,_

 _Lucia told me that a while back she found you in the break room at work and you were so angry you were shaking, because of some things your secretary and stuff were saying. Don't be mad at your sister for that. In her defense, I spent a lot of time wearing her down, and she's never at her strongest when you're not well. And I promise that I'm not trying to handle you when I say this, I'm just trying to take care of you- which is my job._

 _Don't listen to them Tess, listen to me because I've been there longer. I'm a more credible source. You were never heartless, I always knew you would love fiercely. That's why I worked so hard to get in. You were never callous, I know damn well you cried when we got married, even if you teased me when I did. You were never harsh, you only collect earrings because you collect memories. And as far as the mom thing goes, you weren't just a good mom, you were the best mom. You're the only mom I would have wanted for my daughter. You're the only mom who would have taken care of Ariel that perfectly. You're the only mom who could have teased smiles out of her like you did, and kindled her curiosity, and helped her memorise all those facts about space and the ocean, and fought for her like you did. You were the only mom that could have been Ariel's mom. That doesn't change because of what some random outsider says. That doesn't even change because she's gone._

 _I remember when you got in a fight with some kid at camp, who thought climate change was a hoax. You nailed him so hard I remember your exact words: "Your opinion doesn't change the truth, but the truth should change your opinion, and one day it will." Then you also said "science isn't an opinion asshole, that's the point, and if you don't get it then you can suck my dick, dumb shit", but that's besides my point. Recently, I've been thinking that I have too much heart. That I'm feeling things too intensely and I wish I were number. I'm sorry if other people can't see that it's the same for you. But Ariel knew how much we loved her, how much you loved her, and she's the only one we ever owed anything to._

 _Love always,_

 _A_

* * *

Tessa pulled their covers up, all the way to her chin.

"I'm not a robot," Tessa said.

He could have been sleeping, he'd been so still. Now he rolled over to face her, even in the dark.

"I know I don't feel things the same way as everybody else, not even touch and smell and texture. And I've always found ways to live with that. To never wear silk, to only wear long sleeves or no sleeves, to avoid coriander like the plague. But now I'm feeling too much and I don't know what to do with it because- because you can't fix it, you can't fix the- I mean, my daughter is gone, there's no fixing that, but I fix things for a living and I always have and now I have all these feelings and no idea where to put it all. You- you've always been good with feelings. It's why people approach you and tell you their problems and like to read your movie reviews and what you have to say. Where do you put it all?"

"I put it in you," Antwan said. "I know that's not fair because you have your own grief to carry, but... Teresa Solace, I thought I couldn't love anyone more than I loved you until I met my daughter. Even without her, I still love you now."

"I love you so much... so much more..." That lullaby, _you are my sunshine,_ came back to her. _You'll never know dear..._ Her voice shook. "And I'm so afraid you can't see it."

"I don't need to see it, Tess. I know," Antwan said.

"Those women at work really... really got under my skin," Teresa said. "The whole world does sometimes. And I'm starting to think that if they don't know, they don't deserve to see it. They have no right to my heart and to our family."

"They don't," Antwan said.

"It's ours. It's always going to be ours," Teresa said. "And I'm always going to love you for it, and I'm always going to love her, and that's okay."

"It's okay," Antwan said.

"It's okay," Tessa said.


	23. Christmas

**Request for a happier chapter granted, and then delayed because of school, and back now because David's Tea has just released a new Tea Advent Calendar and I am PUMPED. Enjoy!**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own anything.**

* * *

 **xxiii : Christmas**

Someone knocked on the door of Cabin 13. Nico crossed the cabin to open it, and there stood Will Solace on the steps. His cheeks were red from the cold, and he'd bundled up in a big, blue sweater that brought out his eyes. Nico could still see his orange t-shirt, poking through the collar.

"Hey," Will said. "I just wanted to let you know since you'd never really been at camp over the holidays that the nymphs are putting on a special supper tonight."

"Okay," Nico said.

"They usually roast a bunch of turkeys," Will said. "We get mashed potatoes and sweet potatoes and squash and vegetables and cranberry sauce and fresh bread and all of that."

"Okay," Nico siad.

"Last year for dessert they made crème brulée," Will said. "It was really fancy. Until Cabin 11 started throwing it across the dining hall. Rumours have it that we're either getting cheesecake or pudding this year."

"Okay," Nico said.

"I'm telling you this because you didn't come at lunch," Will said. The boy simply would not go away. "I mean... I get that it's sort of awkward, when you're sitting alone with Jason Grace because he's cool and all but he doesn't really talk to anybody- at least not on the basketball courts... Please come to Christmas dinner. Nobody should be alone on Christmas."

Nico's lip twitched in amusement.

"I'll see," he said.

"What, do you have a busy schedule today?" Will asked. Nico wasn't too sure what to respond, but Will winked. "I'll see you at supper."

* * *

"Are you coming to Christmas supper this year?" Will asked, his arms wrapped around Nico and his breath tickling his ear.

"You know I am," Nico said.

"Mmmkay," Will said sleepily. His clothes still smelled like smoke from the campfire that he'd just finished corralling back into Cabin 7. "Are you coming to Christmas _morning?"_

"I've caught on by now that I get the silent treatment when I don't eat breakfast," Nico said.

"No," Will said. "I mean, will you come to Cabin 7's pre-Christmas cabin-wide celebration?"

"You guys do that?"

"Don't call us nerds."

"I won't."

"We'll have oranges and candy canes and hot chocolate and I'm hoping to give Katie Gardner some of our cold tea in exchange for a batch of her gingerbread," Will said. "Everything is decorated, we have Christmas karaoke, and we do a gift exchange, but you wouldn't have to participate."

"Yeah I will," Nico said.

"No, nobody would expect you to- oh! Present tense, present tense!" Will said, letting go of Nico and happily clapping. "You'll come?"

"Yeah, I'll come," Nico said. His stomach tightened. This was his first Christmas morning.

"Does it change your answer if I tell you that we do this in our pajamas?" Will said.

"You look cute in your pajamas."

"It's a Christmas miracle, your heart grew three sizes!" Will said, kissing his nose.

* * *

 **Catalina Bianca**

"Knock knock."

Will looked up from his paperwork and a smile split his face instantly.

"Hi babe," he said. Nico smiled, and hauled the baby carrier up so it could rest on Dr Bourgeois' empty desk. "And hello to you, beautiful… What are you doing here?"

"We missed you," Nico said. "Well, she's been sleeping all day, but I missed you. So I called, and the nurse's station said you were having a really quiet day, and so we came to visit."

"She's been good?" Will asked. "Not too much trouble?"

"No, no," Nico said. He pulled back the blanket he'd draped over Catalina for the car ride to show him the Christmas pajamas he'd dressed her up in, red with little snowflakes all over, and the hat with the pompom to match. Her t-shirt read _BABY'S FIRST CHRISTMAS._

"Oh my gods, she's the cutest," Will gasped. "Are those the pajamas Mom sent? Did you send her a picture?"

"Of course," Nico said.

"Look who's getting all up in the spirit of Christmas after all," Will said. He kissed Nico's nose.

"I wish you didn't work, it would be a whole lot easier," Nico said. Over the years, Will had learned that the little things spoke the loudest when it came to Nico. 'I wish you weren't working' roughly translated to 'I miss you'.

He kissed his husband for real this time. "I wish I were home too, but seniority was not my friend. By the time she's old enough to remember her Christmases, hopefully I'll be able to get out of these things. Gods, I wish she'd wake up so I could pick her up…"

"You can wake her up if you can put her back down," Nico said, plopping down in an empty desk chair. "Be my guest."

Will couldn't risk it. He sat on Bourgeois' desk so that he could look at Catalina sleep. The name still felt like the most beautiful name in the world whenever he said it or thought about it. _Catalina. Cata. Lina._

"She's beautiful," Will said. "I don't think we could have made a better baby, even if we'd have been able to."

"Get those jokes out of your system before she can understand them," Nico said. But he smiled, as he dug in the diaper bag he'd brought along. "I made sandwiches with last night's leftovers."

Will's lip twitched. "Turkey and brie?"

Nico arched an eyebrow. "What is this, amateur hour? There's cranberry sauce too"

They unwrapped their sandwiches from the tinfoil, and Nico had also brought apple cider in a thermos and Will wanted to kiss him senseless, but then Cata woke up because she needed a diaper change. Once that was settled, they paraded her around the nurse's station. One of Will's patients, Theo who had had a brain tumour removed two weeks ago, was walking back to his room and he got really excited about seeing Will and then curious about the baby and also about Nico. Most little kids were fascinated by Nico because he talked to them like they were regular people and didn't freak out about how cute they were right away. They sort of felt challenged by him.

"Why the baby?" Theo asked.

"She's mine," Will told him. "She's ten months old."

"She's so small you could squish her in your hand." Theo observed.

"Theo!" His mother said.

"You're right, we have to be really gentle with her," Will said.

"You have the best hands in the world, so it's okay," Theo told Will. Will grinned and gave Theo a high-five before he went back to his room.

"This morning, Santa Clause brought hot chocolate and chocolate chip cookies for the entire surgical ward," Will said.

"Is that why all of you are wearing Christmas hats?" Nico said.

"I'm doing this for my sex appeal, actually," Will said quietly since there were no small children around.

"Gross," Nico said. "I don't want to see it in our house."

"Can't promise that," Will said, as Cata tugged at his fingers playfully. Will turned back to her and made a face, so she laughed again. His pager buzzed at his waist.

"Shit," Will said. "I've got to get to the ER, babe. I'll see you at home?"

"With no Christmas hat," Nico nodded. He scooped up Cata from Will's arms and kissed him quickly. "Love you."

"Love you too," Will said. He wanted to tell Nico how happy he was that he'd visited, how thankful he was to have been there for a little bit of their first daughter's first Christmas, but he _really_ had to get going. He just had to hope Nico knew.

* * *

 **Francesca Antonia**

The baby was lying down in a pile of wrapping paper with a smile on her face and her curls forking in a million directions, amusing herself with a piece of wrapping paper. It was a good thing they owned four million stuffed animals. And counting, since that's what people defaulted to buying on Christmas. This year, Catalina's favourite seemed to be the little plastic barn with the animals inside.

Nico kept putting the cow at the rooster's spot, on top of the barn, and Catalina kept saying _no Papa_ and putting the cow back in the barn, leaving Nico a window to put the pig on the roof. It was a vicious cycle that lasted a good fourteen minutes until Cata put her hand on the roof and said _No Papa that's enough out of you,_ parroting something she'd heard him tell Will a million times.

Will burst out laughing. "You tell him, Cata." He was sitting near Francesca, giving her more wrapping paper to play with and confiscating it when she brought it to her mouth.

"Well Cata, if the roof was for the rooster only, you should have just told me, _tresoro,"_ he said.

Cata plopped back down and got up immediately, wandering off saying "baby, baby, baby".

She came back with the raggedy stuffed rabbit that Will and Nico had given her when Francesca had come to them, and its bottle. She plopped back down and started to feed the rabbit.

"Papa feed your baby," she told him.

"I would, but she's not hungry," Nico said. "Daddy just gave her a bottle."

"Hmm," Cata said like she doubted it. She crawled over (throwing her rabbit aside as she did, which was another reason why Nico wasn't too worried about taking parenting advice from her) to Francesca and kissed the baby's forehead.

"Gentle," Will reminded her. "Just like that. You're such a good big sister, Cata."

"Franca liked my present best," she informed them. Nico grinned. They maybe should have given the baby a simpler name.

"She did," Will said. Cata had picked out a stuffed lion with mirrors in its tummy and plastic shapes dangling from its paws.

"ROAR!" Cata said.

"Gentle, gentle," Nico said. "You'll scare her."

"Sorry Franca," Cata said. She kissed Francesca's forehead. "Don't cry. Don't cry at Christmas."

* * *

 **Teresa Camille**

Francesca was standing by the door, already wearing her coat and her mittens, her curls neat and pinned back with sparkly bobby pins and red and green barrettes Will had picked up for her. She was bouncing anxiously.

"We have to go!" She said.

"Francesca, be patient," Nico said. "Daddy has to change the baby, and then we can go."

"Mrs Donovan said not to be late," Francesca said.

"We won't be late," Nico said. "Cata, come!"

"I can't find my blue shoes!"

"That's because you're not wearing your blue shoes, you're going to wear black shoes like Mrs Lu asked," Nico said. "Come down!"

"Catalina Solace, I have heard your father ask you twice," Will said, swinging into the entrance way with a freshly changed Teresa. He passed her to Nico, so he could slip her into her little snow coat. Teresa was all windmill arms and legs kicking like a dancer, which made her pretty impossible to dress. Nico seemed to have a bit of an edge over Will for whatever reason, so when time was of the essence, Will didn't even bother trying- especially when Tessa was already mad with him for changing her. She was going to be a fun teenager.

Speaking of fun, Catalina came downstairs grumpy, which Nico could tell because the ends of her braids were turning blue.

"I want my blue shoes."

"I know," Nico said. "But Mrs. Lu asked everyone to wear black shoes for the Christmas concert. You're the one who told me that yesterday."

"But I want to wear blue shoes because I'm not in the front row," Catalina said.

"Would Mrs. Lu want you to be wearing black shoes in the second row?" Will asked.

Cata had no response to that.

"Cata stop we have to go!" Francesca wined.

"You stop!" Cata bit back.

Francesca was so stressed about being late, she looked like she might cry.

"That's enough from both of you," Will said. "You're sisters, you shouldn't fight like this. This is your baby sister's first Christmas, I'm sure she rather hear you two sing in the concert than fight."

The girls were quiet.

"My class is singing Frosty the Snowman," Francesca said.

"That's going to be beautiful," Nico said, zipping up Teresa's coat at last. "Let's get you two to school."

* * *

 **Daniel Lee**

"Here you go Danny," Will said, passing a Christmas stocking to Daniel.

"For me?" Daniel asked.

Nico's smile could have been a cringe just as easily. He remembered that place where nothing seemed to come to you just because, and where nothing was yours. But Daniel looked so excited there was no way around his grin. He'd been excited for weeks about his first Christmas out of foster care. Nico had asked him if there was anything that he liked to do at Christmas, but there wasn't. So Daniel had spent the holidays loving the letters to Santa Clause, taking his turn to change the page on the advent calendar in the living room, making cookies, and all the rest.

"Yeah," Will said. "For you. Just for you."

"Thanks Dad," Daniel said.

Francesca plopped down next to Daniel to open her stocking and compare their stickers and candy and oranges.

Will looked up at Nico and smiled, his eyes watery. Casually, Nico got up and sat down on the floor next to him. He put his arm around Will's shoulders and kissed his hair.

"That's the first time he's said that to either of us," Nico whispered.

"Best Christmas present ever," Will whispered back.

* * *

 **Emilia Maureen**

Will didn't mind working on Christmas so much. He'd said Merry Christmas to everyone with Skype and like every year, Santa had come to their house on Christmas Eve since he knew that Dad was working on Christmas.

He'd just gotten out of surgery and washed up and talked to the family and finished the paperwork. Tobogganing accident on Christmas Day. He couldn't imagine. The boy would be fine though.

Since he had some time to spare, he went up a floor to the neonatal ward and checked in with a nurse.

"Merry Christmas," Will said, leaning on the nurse's desk.

"You here to see your little one?" One of the nurses, the nurse who always seemed to be working the ward, said.

"Yes please," Will said. Ever since Cata had come to them, Will had spent his free time at work (or the free time he created by wandering off from other work) rocking the babies in the neonatal ward when their parents were away- or when they didn't have parents at all.

She checked him in, which she said, as she always did, seemed silly since Will had clearance to go wherever in the hospital he wanted to. But Will didn't mind, it helped him to check out from being a doctor and check in to his other job.

There were fewer volunteers than usual and more families, rocking the babies and holding them. His baby was in an incubator in the back.

"How's she been?" Will asked, picking up the baby and sitting down in the armchair next to her. He ignored all the other parents who were wondering what a doctor was doing there and whether or not he would talk to them about their own babies…

"She had a decent night," Maureen said. "She had a seizure this morning, but she took a nap and bounced right back, didn't you, Miss? She even finished her bottle for me. First time that's happened, isn't it sweet pea?"

"Well done," Will told her, rocking her back and forth. "Well done. We need you to get strong, Miss. We need you to put on some weight and start sleeping your nights to strengthen you up."

"We've had a nice, strong heartbeat," Maureen said. "I dare say that last surgery may have done the trick."

Emilia cooed in Will's arms and he rocked her back and forth.

"I like that you ask instead of looking at her chart," Maureen told him.

"I spend all day looking at charts," Will said. "And I don't spend nearly enough time with you, do I, Miss?"

"I hope the paperwork goes through," Maureen said. "She's going to have a much better chance in this world if somebody loves her. She's already showed us that she's enough of a fighter to pull through it all, but a little help never hurt."

Will smiled. "The good people of Child Protective Services really hustled to get us processed before the holidays, and gave us a call yesterday. Nico and I are officially fostering her now."

"Oh my goodness," Maureen said. "That's great news!"

"Yeah," Will smiled. "Dr Tucche was telling me that we're probably looking at one more month in here, at the least. But Nico can come in and meet her now."

"He hasn't yet?" Maureen said.

"No," Will said. "We only realized last week that Mystery Baby was the special needs placement they'd been talking to us about."

"It was meant to be, sugar," Maureen told him. "She took a liking to you. Does this mean we'll be able to give her a name now? I don't like calling her Baby Girl or 'Charity', which is what she's named now."

"That's horrible," Will laughed.

"See why we call her 'Baby Girl'," Maureen said.

"Nico and I stayed up late last night coming up with ideas," Will said. "We're waiting for him to meet her. It's between _Emilia, Vittoria_ and _Simona._ What's your vote?"

"I don't get a vote," Maureen said.

"Of course you do," Will said. "You're her favourite nurse. She finished her first bottle for you."

Maureen grinned. "I like _Emilia."_

"Me too," Will confided.

"We'll see what your husband says," Maureen said, still smiling. She fussed with the baby's blanket. "Thanks for coming by, Will. This was some good Christmas news."

* * *

 **Lucia Roshanak**

"Suspended?" Nico asked when they got back to the house. "Suspended?"

"Papa," Teresa said.

"This isn't about you as I understand it, and honestly if you had something to do with this, I rather not know," Nico said. "Out."

Teresa gave her sister one last look and left. Roshanak was still wearing her coat, snowflakes in her hair.

"Take your coat off," Nico said tossing his car keys in the bowl next to the door. "You're not going anywhere."

Rosh was still glaring at him defiantly, but she shrugged her coat off.

"There's no reason for you to fight at school," Nico said. "None. You didn't convince me in the principal's office, and you won't convince me now. Chiron stresses not fighting with mortals, and the rules don't change here."

Roshanak kept glaring. She didn't look away.

"Look," Nico said. "I know you think you're a badass. I know you think you're just here for your sister, and you're humouring the rest of us, and you don't really care about going to school. That's fine. But I know who you are, and you can probably fight me on that, but I've been where you are. I know you're a kid and I know you're scared and I know you're just happy whenever you get a meal."

Roshanak looked at Nico with hard, angry grey eyes.

"I've seen you walk Emilia through homework, and I've seen you play with the neighbor's dog. I know you have a personality- that you're kind, that you're not just intelligent but that you can be witty and funny and adventurous and fun. That girl would also have a place to stay here. You're not just here because you're Teresa's sister, you're here because you deserve a home."

Roshanak's jaw unclenched. She took a deep breath.

"Right," Nico said. "Is there any reason why you're more wound up than usual lately? That's right. We notice these things."

She hesitated.

"I was looking at the pictures in the living room," she said. "It's just babies sitting on Santas. And there are handmade ornaments on the trees, and old Christmas crafts that you've kept. It's history that I don't have. Not just here, but anywhere, and I can't start now."

"Why not?" Nico asked. "Will is my family. We met when we were fourteen. I had no idea this is where we'd end up, or that I'd even want this. But it begins with putting your roots down somewhere- anywhere. And it doesn't have to be with us, but I'd like it to be."

Roshanak tugged on her hair. "I didn't think this was going to happen. I thought I was… I don't know. I just wanted my sister."

"If you told the twelve-year-old version of me that I would end up with six kids and a husband and a house, I would have slapped you," Nico said. "Dead ass, slapped you."

Roshanak laughed. "Can you… never mind."

"What?" Nico asked.

"It's too late for me to put my name in for the family gift-exchange, right?" She said tentatively.

"Nope," Nico said. "Will and I rigged it. We gave you Emilia since she's easy to shop for."

Roshanak laughed, and it was the first time Nico had heard her laugh when it didn't come from behind closed doors.

"Thank you," Roshanak said. "Did you give my name to someone good?"

"Yeah we did," Nico said.

It was him. He'd gotten Roshanak a stack of used books and a Kindle so she wouldn't have to borrow books from the other kids anymore. He knew what he'd been like in her shoes, she'd like to travel light- so he'd also gotten a green case for the Kindle, since she seemed to wear lots of green clothes and pick out green notebooks for herself when they'd gone back-to-school shopping.

"If I'm not grounded for fighting, can I get a ride to the mall?" Rosh asked. "I think I know what I want to get her."

"It's Christmas season, the mall's going to be crazy tonight. I can take a day off tomorrow and take you," Nico said. "We can go grab some food too... It sounds like that fuckboy really deserved to get his ass handed to him."

"I made him eat shit, but he brought up twincest all on his own," Rosh said, to which Nico laughed.

"Alright, plan made," Nico said. "Hang up your coat, you can go hang out with your sister if you want."

Roshanak nodded and looked at the ground and looked up and gave Nico a smile. And then he knew he was right; he'd chipped enough away to see someone a whole lot lighter and a whole lot happier.

He smiled back.


End file.
